Who is Ajay Pal Sharma, UP cadre IPS officer posted as poll observer in Bengal

ON mon, a picture supposedly showing Uttar Pradesh (UP) cadre amerind police force Service (IPS) officer Ajay Pal Sharma, posted as a poll observer in West Bengal, allegedly threatening Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Jahangir Khan and his family, went viral on social media.Khan reacted to the threat by alluding to the Telugu action film ‘Pushpa’ and the Bollywood movie ‘Singham’ and said he would not allow “BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)-appointed” police officers to threaten voters.BJP’s Amit Malviya shared the video on X, praising Sharma for wasting no time in setting the tone and reading the riot act. TMC lawmaker Mahua Moitra asked Sharma to be a little careful, even as a plea seeking action against him was filed in the Supreme Court, accusing the IPS officer of being “highly partisan and acting contrary to the role prescribed to him”.On Tuesday, a lawyer verbally pleaded for an order restraining Sharma and said he violated the Model Code of Conduct by threatening Khan and his family. The Calcutta high court refused to take action against any officer on poll duty until the Bengal elections conclude on Wednesday. It asked a lawyer to approach the Election Commission of India if there was any grievance when he alleged that Sharma was intimidating voters.A 2011-batch officer, Sharma first came into the spotlight in the summer of 2019 as the Rampur police superintendent when he oversaw action against Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan. Khan was labelled a “land mafia” weeks after he won the Rampur Lok Sabha seat. Nearly 80 cases of land grab, theft, and encroachment tied to Khan’s Jauhar University were filed. Bulldozers rolled in, and raids became routine.SP chief Akhilesh Yadav called it outright political targeting and targeted Sharma. For opponents, he represented policing as a political vendetta and law enforcement without fear for supporters. Sharma’s stints in Noida and other National Capital Region districts of UP earned him an “encounter specialist” image. Dozens of alleged extra-judicial killings and anti-crime drives earned him applause as well as scrutiny. Civil society groups questioned the legality of “ the encounter culture”.Unverified videos purportedly showing him dancing with bar dancers, which overshadowed his tenure as Prayagraj’s additional police commissioner, resurfaced after his alleged threat to TMC leader Khan. TMC’s Mahua Moitra posted the videos on X, saying good “to see you enjoying yourself”. Akhilesh Yadav cited Sharma’s past and questioned why he was sent to a non-BJP-ruled state during the polls.