West Bengal: ECI reverses transfer of two IPS officers, three put on hold

THe Election charge of republic of india (ECI) on th reversed the reassign of ii senior police officers in West Bengal and put on hold the transfer of three others, partially walking back its controversial order to move 15 IPS officers out of the poll-bound state.The decision came on a day West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee wrote a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that ECI had “crossed all boundaries of decency and constitutional propriety.”In a late-night order on Wednesday, ECI cancelled the alternative postings the state government had arranged for 15 IPS officers. The Mamata Banerjee government had reassigned these officers after ECI had already removed them from their original posts and barred them from any election-related duties ahead of the assembly polls.“Murali Dhar, Police Commissioner of Bidhannagar, and Syed Waquar Raza, Police Commissioner of Siliguri, will continue in their current posts. Three officers — Akash Magharia, Amandeep, and Praveen Kumar Tripathi — have been kept on hold, with a decision on their deployment expected by Monday, while the remaining officers will be sent to Tamil Nadu and Kerala as poll observers,” said a senior ECI official.Bengal goes to the polls in two phases – 152 seats on April 23 and 142 seats on April 29.Banerjee, in a post on X, pointed directly to what she called a glaring contradiction in the ECI’s handling of the officers. “It claims that removed officers should not be assigned election duties, yet within hours, the same officers are sent out as election observers,” she wrote.She said the appointment of the Commissioners of Police of Siliguri and Bidhannagar as observers, without putting replacements in place, left two vital urban centres effectively headless — and that it was only after this lapse came to light that rushed corrections followed.Echoing the attack, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien also criticised the Commission on X, calling the episode evidence of “complete mismanagement” and questioning the consistency of the EC’s decisions on officer transfers and election duties.The transfer standoff is the latest flashpoint in a widening confrontation between the state government and the poll body. Since the election schedule was announced on March 15, ECI has replaced the chief secretary, director general of police, home secretary, and Kolkata police commissioner, and reshuffled more than 18 IPS officers across the state. The main opposition party, Bharatiya Janata Party, had been pressing for all barred officers to be moved out of Bengal entirely, arguing their continued presence could influence the electoral process.Separately, ECI has formally added five departments — Government Road Transport Corporations, Electricity Boards, Traffic Police, Fire and Rescue Services, and the Prison Department – to the postal ballot list under essential services, ahead of assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, and Puducherry. Until now, the facility covered only health workers, ambulance, aviation, railway, BSNL, Doordarshan, and Food Corporation employees.