ECI acting 'whimsically': Trinamool's Kalyan Banerjee on senior police officers reshuffle

Kolkata, March 19 (IANS) Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee on Thursday criticised the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the recent reshuffle of senior police officers in West Bengal, alleging that the poll body is acting “very whimsically" and that such functioning had never been witnessed before.

His comments come after the ECI transferred more than one and a half dozen IPS officers in the state as part of a fresh administrative reshuffle ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections. The move, according to the Commission, is aimed at ensuring fair and impartial policing during the electoral process.

Reacting to the development, Banerjee told IANS: "The Election Commission is acting very whimsically. Never before has such an Election Commission been seen. The problem is this: on one hand, they are saying that these 15 people should not be assigned election duties, while on the other hand, they are sending them to conduct elections in other states."

He further questioned the rationale behind the reshuffle: "This is so whimsical. Not only police who are directly involved on the front line, but also other police officers are required."

Alleging political motives, the Trinamool leader said: "Their main agenda is to bring the outside IPS, IAS officers as per the agenda of the BJP and to hold the election. In a country like ours, the point has come... which needs to be considered that there cannot be free and fair elections until the appointment of the Election Commissioners is made transparent and in a fully legal manner."

Continuing his criticism, Banerjee added, “These appointments are on the whims of the Prime Ministers and the Central government. If the Election Commissioners are appointed out of a hat, because of the choice of Prime Ministers, Home Ministers, and other ministers, they belong to a particular party..."

"So, they will naturally try to fulfil the desire of the Prime Minister. So, there cannot be held free and fair polls in the country. And the Opposition cannot have a free and fair election as soon as the Election Commissioners are appointed with free and transparent procedures."

Earlier in the day, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also lambasted the ECI over the latter's decision to transfer bureaucrats and police officers in the state and also sending many of them on deputation as general and police observers in other poll-bound states almost daily since the model code of conduct came into force after the announcement of the polling dates.

Meanwhile, the ECI has partially rolled back its decision to shift a group of IPS officers out of West Bengal, deciding to retain two officers in the state for the time being.

According to officials in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, two IPS officers, namely Murali Dhar and Syed Waquar Raza, will not be deputed to other states as observers for now and will continue to serve in West Bengal until further directions are issued.

The remaining 13 officers, however, will be sent on deputation to poll-bound states, including Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where they are expected to serve as observers during the Assembly polls.

The development comes a day after the poll panel, in a late-night order on Wednesday, cancelled the alternative postings of 15 IPS officers in West Bengal. These officers had earlier been reassigned by the state government after being removed by the Election Commission from their posts and barred from election-related duties in view of the upcoming Assembly elections.

In its earlier directive, the Commission had decided to shift all 15 officers out of West Bengal by appointing them as police observers in other states going to the polls.

The list included Akash Magharia, Alok Rajoria, Amandeep, Abhijit Banerjee, Bhaskar Mukherjee, C. Sudhakar, Dhritimaan Sarkar, Indira Mukherjee, Murali Dhar, Mukesh, Praveen Kumar Tripathi, Priyabrata Roy, Sandeep Karra, Rashid Munir Khan, and Raza.

Among them, Murali Dhar was serving as Police Commissioner of Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, while Raza was Police Commissioner of Siliguri Metropolitan Police.