Bengal: ECI transfers district magistrate of East Midnapore

Kolkata, March 25 (IANS) Citing allegations of unlawful conduct, the Election Commission on Wednesday removed the District Magistrate of East Midnapore and other state government officials.

On Wednesday, a new District Magistrate was also appointed to the district, which happens to be the home turf of the state’s Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari.

Additionally, on the very same day, the Commission effected a reshuffle involving five Additional District Magistrates (ADMs) across five other districts.

Unice Rishin Ismail had been serving as the District Magistrate of East Midnapore. Allegations surfaced against him regarding the recruitment of contractual staff just before the Assembly elections.

In light of such serious allegations, the said IAS officer was transferred. Niranjan Kumar has been appointed as the new District Magistrate of East Midnapore.

Apart from this, the Commission has transferred five other IAS officers. Tejaswi Rana, a Special Secretary to the State Government currently posted in North 24 Parganas, has been appointed as the Returning Officer for the Bhatpara Assembly constituency within that district.

Aditya Vikram Mohan, the Additional District Magistrate of Alipurduar, has been assigned the responsibility of Returning Officer for the Raninagar constituency in Murshidabad district.

Rohan Lakshmikant, who served as the Additional District Magistrate of East Burdwan, has been assigned a role in the Ranibandh area of Bankura by the Commission.

Lakshman Perumal, the Additional District Magistrate of Jhargram, has been entrusted with the duties of Returning Officer for the Taldangra constituency in Bankura. Finally, Srinivas Venkatrao Patil, the Additional District Magistrate of Bankura, has been appointed as the Returning Officer for the Baishnabnagar constituency in Malda district.

The dates for the Assembly elections were announced on March 15.

Starting that very night, the Commission initiated a major reshuffle at the administrative level across the state.

In an unprecedented move, the State Chief Secretary and the Home Secretary were replaced in the middle of the night.

The following day, March 16, the Commission also removed the Director General (DG) of State Police and the Commissioner of Kolkata Police.

Since then, the Commission has continued to carry out extensive reshuffles, one after another, across both the bureaucratic and police hierarchies. In a single instance, the Superintendents of Police (SPs) of 12 districts across the state were transferred simultaneously.

--IANS

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