The ongoing standoff between the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government and the Election Commission of India (ECI) received a fresh impetus on Thursday after the Bengal government sought a review of the ECI’s directive asking it to cancel the transfer and additional postings of three IAS officers deputed for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
The three officers had been appointed as electoral roll observers by the EC, and the state govt’s decision to reassign them without the ECI’s prior approval triggered the confrontation with the poll panel, which termed the transfers “violative” of its instructions.
The state govt has now written to the ECI from Nabanna, urging it to reconsider its order.
The ball was set rolling on 28 November when the ECI appointed IAS officers Asvini Kumar Yadav, Randhir Kumar, and Smita Pandey as observers for the SIR exercise.
Yadav was assigned Uttar and Dakshin Dinajpur, Randhir Kumar North 24-Parganas and Kolkata North, while Smita Pandey was made observer for West Bardhaman, East Bardhaman, and Birbhum.
As per the Election Commission’s rules, officers deputed for election-related work cannot be transferred or given additional responsibilities without the commission’s concurrence.
However, the state government issued orders assigning additional responsibilities to Yadav and Randhir Kumar and transferring Smita Pandey between 31 December and 21 January, following which the poll body shot off a letter to Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty, directing the state govt to immediately cancel the orders and refrain from issuing similar instructions in the future without prior approval. The ECI also sought a compliance report.
According to reliable sources, the Mamata govt has not withdrawn the transfer orders so far. Instead, in its response, it has requested the ECI to review its directive, citing administrative difficulties. How the Commission responds to the state’s appeal is to be seen.
The row between the two is not restricted to the transfer of IAS officers alone. Another front for the fight opened after the Bengal govt sent the list of nine IAS and eight IPS officers of its choice to the ECI, requesting it to include these officers in the list of central observers as replacements for the ones named by the poll panel.
The Bengal govt’s action came a day after the ECI named 15 IAS and 10 IPS officers from the state to act as central election observers in the five poll-bound states—West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry. The ECI’s list of officers included even Bengal’s Home Secretary Jagdeesh Prasad Meena and Howrah Police Commissioner Praveen Kumar Tripathy, among others, as central observers.
All officers named by the EC have also been asked to attend a mandatory two-day orientation programme scheduled for February 5 and 6 in New Delhi at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management, in the presence of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
These officers have been warned of strong disciplinary actions if any of them skip the training programme in Delhi.
As per ECI sources, the poll body had repeatedly asked the West Bengal government to recommend names of IAS and IPS officers from the state for appointment as poll observers in other states, but the state government allegedly sat on it initially and reacted only after the ECI named 25 bureaucrats as central observers for the five poll-bound states.
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