It seems that the Election Commission has finally taken cognisance of electoral malpractices in the state of West Bengal. It has been reported that the Election Commission transferred 7 police officers in West Bengal on Monday. According to an Election Commission notification, three police officers have been transferred in the Murshidabad district, one in North 24 Parganas district. The SDPO of Bishnpur in Bankua district has also been transferred.
The notification stated, “The officers being transferred are not to be involved by the state government in any election-related duties.” It added IC Raghunathganj Saikat Roy, IC Farakka Uday Shankar Ghosh, SI Shamsherganj Bidhan Haldar in Murshidabad district, Ajay Mondal of Baraboni police station and Rajshekhar Mukherjee of Andal police station in Paschim Burdwan district have been transferred.
The Election Commission also requested the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Aariz Aftab “to ensure that the officers transferred must be relieved forthright, without waiting for the reliever, by handing over charge to the officer, whom they report to”. The Commission has transferred around 12 police officers till now, including the Kolkata Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma, who has been replaced by Dr Rajesh Kumar. Moreover, Bidhannagar city police Commissioner, Gyanwant Singh and the Superintendents of Police in Birbhum and Diamond Harbour districts were also transferred by the Election Commission.
It must be noted that during the second phase of polling in West Bengal, violence was reported from several places in the state. Moreover, in a shocking incident, it had come to light from a village in the Raiganj constituency where the Hindu voters were not allowed to exercise their franchise. Such incidents had made it clear that the elections were not being conducted in the state of West Bengal in a fair manner.
During the first phase of polling, West Bengal police officials were spotted wearing Indian Army uniforms and caps with Indian Army inscribed on them in Alipurduar. This had led to chaos and confusion among the voters and the observers. Several incidents of violence involving TMC workers in the state. Moroever, there were also reports of the TMC workers ransacking an EVM machine in Cooch Behar’s Barosholmari area. The BJP candidate had alleged that the police looked helpless in front of armed TMC men.
It is clear that the TMC is reporting to blatant violence in order to somehow retain power in the state. At such a time, it is the duty of the Election Commission to ensure that the democratic ethos of the country is upheld and no such anti-social elements are allowed to openly affect the polling process.