The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday expanded its focus beyond top bureaucrats in its effort to ensure violence-free and fair elections in West Bengal and is now scrutinising lower-level officers, in addition to senior administrative and police officers in the state.
A day after the election schedule was announced, ECI sought additional details and asked the state to provide a list of re-employed officers and employees who were transferred after February 28, 2026.
Following this directive, the state’s Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department asked all departments to submit lists of employees transferred after February 28, 2026, along with details of all re-employed officers and staff.
On Sunday, EC asked the state administration to submit a list of police station–level officers under whose jurisdiction incidents of pre-poll and polling-day violence occurred during the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election, as well as pre-poll, polling-day, and post-poll violence during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Hours after announcing the Bengal polls, the Commission also replaced two of the state’s top bureaucrats, removing Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty and appointing Dushyant Nariala in her place late on Sunday. Similarly, Home Secretary Jagdish Prasad Meena was replaced by Sanghamitra Ghosh.
In a letter to the Bengal chief secretary, the Commission stated that Chakraborty and Meena must not be assigned any election-related role until the polling process concludes. “The directions of the Election Commission should be implemented with immediate effect and a compliance report in respect of joining of Dushyant Nariala and Sanghamitra Ghosh be sent by 3 pm on March 16 (Monday),” it said.
On Monday morning, ECI also ordered the transfer of several senior police officers, including the director general of police, the ADG (Law and Order), the commissioner of Kolkata police, and the director general of Correctional Services.
A senior ECI official said the “list will not end here”. “We are determined to ensure violence-free elections in Bengal. To ensure that, we will go to any length and replace any officers we deem necessary. Lower-level police personnel and administration officers sometimes take an important role in conducting free and fair elections. We will bring strong and transparent officers in those posts as well.”
“Bengal will see a massive reshuffle in the coming week across all levels of the administration,” the official added.
West Bengal will vote in two phases on April 23 and April 29, down from eight phases in the previous election. The counting of votes will take place on May 4.