The Election Commission of India (ECI) has ordered the immediate transfer of several high-ranking IPS officers from the state. The Commission has directed Muralidhar Sharma, formerly the Commissioner of Bidhannagar, and Waqar Raza, the former Siliguri Commissioner, to report for election duty in Tamil Nadu. They have been given a strict deadline of 3:00 PM on March 20 to report at their new postings, where they will remain until the conclusion of the electoral process.
This move is part of a broader strategy to ensure a neutral and transparent environment for the upcoming polls in Bengal. Alongside the transfers to Tamil Nadu, the ECI has dispatched a contingent of 12 senior IPS officers from the Bengal cadre to Kerala. This list includes prominent names such as Rashid Munir Khan, Priyabrata Roy, Praveen Kumar Tripathi, Mukesh, Indira Mukherjee, Dhritiman Sarkar, C. Sudhakar, Bhaskar Mukherjee, Abhijeet Banerjee, Amandeep, Akash Magharia, and Alok Rajoria. Like their colleagues, they must report by tomorrow afternoon.
Further expanding this reshuffle, IPS officer Sandeep Kara has been sent to Nagaland to oversee upcoming by-elections. By moving these officers to distant states, the ECI aims to minimize any potential local influence or bias that could arise during the high-voltage campaigning and polling phases in West Bengal. Such "cross-state" deployments are standard protocol when the Commission identifies the need to maintain absolute administrative impartiality in sensitive election zones.