ECI removes 4 key officials, petition filed in Cal HC
The Statesman | 1 April 2026
In a fall out of the massive transfers made by the Election Commission of India, a petition has been filed in the Calcutta High Court challenging the poll body’s decision to remove 267 officials, including Block Development Officers (BDOs) and Officers-in-Charge (OCs) of multiple police stations across West Bengal within a single day.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday afternoon removed four key officials from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, including one in the rank of Deputy CEO.
The Deputy CEO who has been removed is Subrata Pal, a West Bengal Civil Service (Executive) officer of the 2005 batch. He has been transferred as Senior Deputy Secretary to the health and family welfare department.
At the same time, two Additional Secretaries and one Joint Secretary in the CEO’s office have also been removed. The two Additional Secretaries who have been transferred are Narendra Nath Dutta and Supriya Das. The Joint Secretary who has been transferred is Mithu Sarkar.
At the same time, Rahul Nath, a WBCS (Executive) officer of the 2001 batch and the erstwhile Additional Secretary to the health and family welfare department, has been transferred as Joint CEO of West Bengal.
The matter was mentioned on Monday before a division Bench headed by Chief Justice Sujoy Paul.
Advocate Kalyan Banerjee drew the court’s attention to the issue and sought an urgent hearing.
The Bench, also comprising Justice Partha Sarathi Sen, granted permission to file the petition. The case is likely to be heard later this week.
The large-scale reshuffle began on the night of the poll announcement, with the ECI initiating a series of transfers in the state administration and police.
The Commission removed OCs of 170 police stations, including those in Bhawanipore and Nandigram, taking the total number of police officials transferred to 184 on Sunday.
Additionally, 83 BDOs and Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) were removed from their posts, including BDOs from two blocks in Nandigram.
Banerjee had earlier moved the High Court opposing similar transfers of senior officials, questioning the manner in which the Commission was affecting the changes.
He argued that such large-scale transfers are typically undertaken under conditions akin to the President’s Rule and raised questions in court on whether any such situation exists in the state.
The Election Commission, on its part, has presented its position before the court regarding the reasons behind the transfers.
The latest petition again challenges the removal of a large number of BDOs and OCs, bringing the matter back before the High Court for judicial scrutiny.