NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has ordered the transfer of 483 administration and police officials in West Bengal since the assembly elections were announced on March 15 — 21 times more than the 23 officers it ordered transferred across the other three states that will go to the polls in April, namely Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
It did not order any transfers in the Union Territory of Puducherry.
Even in West Bengal, the ECI ordered transfer of only 15 officers in 2021, and the scale of transfers ordered this year sparked challenges, a parliamentary strike, and a direct confrontation between the poll body and the state government.
The Trinamool Congress has opposed the size of the transfers. “They have shuffled the officers. Those appointed have been tasked with rejecting nominations. Check your documents (before filing your nomination),” West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said while addressing an election rally at Nannoor in Birbhum district on Wednesday.
ECI said its transfer orders were based on intelligence information and reports submitted by officials in the state chief executive’s office and central controllers deployed in Bengal. “We cannot have officials in office questioning their behavior,” said a senior election official who requested to remain anonymous.
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The BJP said the transfer orders fall under the purview of the Election Commission of India. “ECI can exercise power in any way it deems fit,” said Debjit Sarkar, BJP spokesperson in West Bengal. “For the upcoming elections, we want only one thing – free and fair elections and a clean electoral list.”
West Bengal’s orders from ECI have come in phases.
On March 15, it ordered the transfer of 79 officials, including the Chief Secretary, Home Minister, Director General of Police and Kolkata Police Commissioner.
Then, on March 17 and 18, it ordered the transfer of 38 officers from the Israel Prison Service and 13 officers from the General Intelligence Service.
On March 23, it dismissed 73 returning officers. Then, on March 29, it transferred 83 residential complex development officers and returning assistant officers, and 184 inspector-rank police officers were redeployed across districts. ECI has also deputed 13 senior IPS officers from Bengal to work as election observers in other states.
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The International Elections Organization justified this scope by pointing to the documented post-election violence in 2021, which witnessed weeks of targeted killings and displacement after the results were announced. “The documented violence that followed the 2021 results – weeks of targeted killings and displacement – will not happen again. The Electoral Commission has made its decisions on the basis of reports from state intelligence and other authorities,” the IEC official said.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the transfers as a “deliberate design to control West Bengal”. The Trinamool Congress staged a strike in the Rajya Sabha on March 16 to protest against these transfers.
“Officer transfers vary from state to state depending on what the terrain requires. We have the authority to make the necessary decisions to ensure that elections are free, fair and free of violence – and that is exactly what we are doing,” the same senior ECI official said, adding that the commission’s position had been fully laid out before the court.
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ECI also asserted in the Calcutta High Court that the transfers were based on ground level requirements to ensure free and fair elections. During the recent hearing on the petition filed against the transfers, ECI said: “There is no reason to believe that while transferring/transferring the West Bengal officers, ECI did any step-mother-in-law treatment.” The Supreme Court rejected the petition on March 31.
The above-mentioned official added: “Officer transfers vary from state to state depending on the situation on the ground. We have the authority to make the necessary decisions to ensure that elections are free, fair and free of violence – and that is exactly what we are doing.”
