Hours before the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) press conference in Delhi — expected to announce the commencement date of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls — the West Bengal government, in a major reshuffle, transferred 64 IAS officers, including 17 district magistrates, and 457 WBCS officers, to new administrative posts.

Among the WBCS officers, a number of block development Officers (BDOs), sub divisional officers (SDOs), and additional district magistrates (ADMs) were also transferred.

While the state administration described the move as routine, senior officials said the timing was strategic. “It was expected that after the SIR announcement, the ECI would move those district magistrates who have held the post for more than three years. So, before the ECI could do that, the state administration transferred them to avoid controversy,” said a senior administrative official, requesting anonymity.

In the conference, the ECI is expected to announce dates for the first phase of SIR in some states including Bengal, which goes to polls in 2026.

Among those transferred are Sharad Kumar Dwivedi, DM North 24 Parganas, who has been moved to the Health and Family Welfare Department as secretary; Sumit Gupta, DM South 24 Parganas, now posted as Municipal Commissioner of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation; and Shashank Sethi, MD of WBHIDCO, who will take charge as DM North 24 Parganas. Arvind Kumar Mina, DM Cooch Behar, has been transferred to South 24 Parganas, while Rajarshi Mitra, DM Murshidabad, will join as MD, WBHIDCO.

Rajat Nanda, DM Purulia, has been appointed Director of Tourism; Preeti Goyal, DM Darjeeling, will now serve as DM Malda; and Nitin Singhania will take charge as DM Murshidabad. Bidhan Roy, DM Birbhum, has been moved to the Food and Supplies Department as social secretary.

Senior BJP leader and former state party president Rahul Sinha claimed, “This is not a routine transfer. These DMs held their positions for years. Now, since SIR will start, the state government is forced to change so many of them. This is to save themselves from embarrassment.”

Sujan Chakraborty, CPIM central committee member, said, “In our state, no rules are followed… There is a definite purpose behind the transfer. Who knows what the plan of the government is?”

However, Debangshu Bhattacharya, state president of TMC social media and IT cell said, “The Opposition has no issue, that is why they are creating an issue. Such transfers take place throughout the year. This is normal.”

On August 22 this year, after an ECI directive, the state government had suspended four officials, including two Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) Debottam Dutta Choudhury and Biplab Sarkar and two Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) Tathagata Mandal and Sudipta Das, over alleged fraudulent voter list entries in Baruipur Purba and Moyna Assembly constituencies. A data entry operator was also suspended earlier.