Poll position: EC’s big Bengal shake-up

Sweeping official transfers in the poll-bound state stir debates on their timing and political implications.

Soon after announcing the schedule for the Assembly elections on Sunday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) effected a midnight reshuffle in West Bengal, replacing the state’s top bureaucracy with handpicked officials. 

The Chief Secretary, the Home Secretary, the Director-General of Police, and the Kolkata Police Commissioner have been shifted, and the new officials have been directed to assume charge immediately.

The EC said the officials transferred out would be kept away from active election duty. 

Subsequently, at least 19 top police officers and 13 district electoral officers were transferred. It appears the Commission had the names of the officials marked for transfer and their replacements ready. 

The official line is that the reshuffle is part of a “review of poll preparedness.” This doesn’t address the fact that such extensive bureaucratic reshuffles are not common, weeks ahead of elections. That the scene of action is West Bengal adds a political context to the development.

The Constitution vests in the EC the responsibility and powers needed for “the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections.’’ It also requires the President or the Governor of a state to make the necessary staff available to the EC.

The Commission’s powers come into play as soon as the model code of conduct is enforced. It has exercised such powers to transfer officials at the state or district levels on its own or on receipt of complaints. But it is for the first time that the entire administration of a state is changed in this manner.

The officers who have been replaced are experienced and senior personnel, and it is being pointed out that the officials who replace them are relatively inexperienced.

The EC has, in the past, invited criticism for its allegedly partisan conduct favouring the BJP-led central government. West Bengal is entering the run-up to a high-stakes election, where the BJP is set for a fierce contest with the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

The controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, which is continuing, is seen against the backdrop of this friction. The reshuffle of officials will also be viewed with the apprehensions over this political confrontation.

The TMC has protested the transfers in parliament. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee noted that the transfers were made without consulting the state government – an opening note of defiance that may set the tone for what is expected to be an intense poll campaign.