ECI, in a late night directive on Wednesday, had sent 15 officers on deputation to other states, including Tamil Nadu and Keralam. These officers were Akash Magharia, Alok Rajoria, Amandeep, Abhijit Banerjee, Bhaskar Mukherjee, C Sudhakar, Dhritimaan Sarkar, Indira Mukherjee, Murli Dhar, Mukesh, Praveen Kumar Tripathi, Priyabrata Roy, Sandeep Karra, Rashid Munir Khan, and Syed Waqar Raja.
Among them, Murli Dhar Sharma was the police commissioner of Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, and Waqar Raja was the police commissioner of Siliguri Metropolitan Police. Sharma was sent to Tamil Nadu as central Observer, which has been revoked, Sharma confirmed to ET.
Raja was recently appointed the CP of Darjeeling after removal of C Sudhakar as Siliguri CP for President protocol breach.
In another late night change, ECI said newly appointed Randhir Kumar (2006) as DEO, Kolkata South will also continue to hold his existing post as Director of Land Records and Survey, West Bengal-cumDEO, Kolkata South. Meanwhile, T Balasubramanian (2013) who was appointed as DM-cum-DEO, Alipurduar, will also continue to hold the post of DM-cumDEO, Dakshin Dinajpur.
Yesterday, the poll body named new deputy inspectors general (DIGs) of police for five ranges, and 11 new district magistrates who will also be district electoral officers (DEOs). Two other IAS officers have been appointed as DEOs for Kolkata North and South.
In the first round, it appointed Dushyant Nariala as the new chief secretary and Sanghamitra Ghosh as the new home secretary, replacing Nandini Chakraborty and Jagdish Prasad Meena, respectively. Siddh Nath Gupta, a 1992-batch IPS officer, was named the new director general of police, West Bengal. The new Kolkata Police commissioner is Ajay Kumar Nand, a 1996-batch IPS officer. The poll body also appointed 1995-batch officer Ajay Mukud Ranade as ADG & IGP (law & order).West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has criticized the bureaucratic and police reshuffle and blamed both BJP and ECI. She said all these decisions were taken without consulting her and also wrote a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar, raising her objections.
The two-phase Assembly polls in the state are scheduled for April 23 and 29. The first phase will be conducted for 152 Assembly constituencies and the second phase of polling will be held for 142 constituencies.
