ECI cancels rehabilitation of 15 IPS officers in West Bengal, sends them out of state

The Election Commission cancelled alternative postings of 15 IPS officers in West Bengal and deputed them to other poll-bound states ahead of Assembly elections. The move follows Opposition demands to prevent barred officials from influencing the electoral process within the state

Kolkata: In a late-night development on Wednesday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) cancelled the rehabilitation of several Indian Police Service (IPS) officers in West Bengal who had been given alternative postings by the state government after being removed by the Commission from their earlier posts and barred from election-related duties in the state, which is heading for crucial two-phase Assembly polls next month.

On Wednesday night, the ECI issued a fresh notification cancelling the alternative postings of 15 such IPS officers and decided to shift them out of the state by deputing them as police observers to other poll-bound states.

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The list of IPS officers whose postings have been cancelled and who have been sent on deputation includes Akash Magharia, Alok Rajoria, Amandeep, Abhijit Banerjee, Bhaskar Mukherjee, C. Sudhakar, Dhritimaan Sarkar, Indira Mukherjee, Murli Dhar, Mukesh, Praveen Kumar Tripathi, Priyabrata Roy, Sandeep Karra, Rashid Munir Khan, and Syed Waqar Raja.

Among them, Murli Dhar was the Police Commissioner of Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, and Syed Waqar Raja was the Police Commissioner of Siliguri Metropolitan Police.

There had been a sustained demand from Opposition parties in West Bengal, especially the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), that bureaucrats and police officers barred by the Commission from election-related duties should also be shifted out of the state till the polling process is over, so that they are not in a position to influence the electoral process from within the state.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had been critical of the removal of bureaucrats and police officers from their posts without consulting the state government, and had written to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar raising objections in the matter.

The two-phase polls in West Bengal will be held on April 23 and April 29. In the first phase, polling will be held for 152 Assembly constituencies, and in the second phase, for 142 constituencies.