Election Commission cancels IPS ‘rehabilitation’, sends officers out of Bengal

In a late-night move that has added a fresh twist to the high-stakes electoral landscape in West Bengal, the Election Commission of India (ECI) stepped in decisively to nullify what it saw as an attempt to sidestep its earlier directives.

The poll panel cancelled the “rehabilitation” of 15 Indian Police Service (IPS) officers who had been reassigned by the state government after being removed from their original posts and barred from election-related duties. In a swift follow-up, the Commission ordered their transfer out of the state, deputing them as police observers to other poll-bound regions — effectively ensuring their distance from Bengal’s electoral theatre.

Among those moved are senior officers including Murli Dhar, who served as police commissioner of Bidhannagar, and Syed Waqar Raja, former commissioner of Siliguri — names that underscore the scale and significance of the reshuffle.

The development comes amid mounting pressure from Opposition parties, particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had long argued that officials barred from poll duties should not remain within the state during elections, lest they exert influence behind the scenes.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, however, had sharply objected to the commission’s earlier actions, questioning the removal of officers without consultation and formally raising her concerns with chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

With West Bengal set to vote in two phases on 23 April and 29 April — covering 294 assembly constituencies — the commission’s latest intervention signals its intent to maintain a firm grip on the integrity of the electoral process, even as the political temperature continues to rise.

With IANS inputs