ECI appoints 13 IAS, 5 IPS officers for West Bengal Assembly election
Ahead of the high-stakes West Bengal election, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has reshuffled senior officers, appointing 13 IAS officers as District Magistrates-cum-District Election Officers (DMs-cum-DEOs) and five IPS officers as Deputy Inspectors General (DIGs). Key postings include Jitin Yadav (Cooch Behar), Sandeep Ghosh (Jalpaiguri), Vivek Kumar (Uttar Dinajpur), and R Arjun (Murshidabad). Smita Pandey has been appointed Municipal Commissioner of Kolkata Municipal Corporation and DEO, Kolkata North, while Randhir Kumar will serve as DEO, Kolkata South. The DIG postings cover Raiganj, Murshidabad, Bardhaman, Presidency, and Jalpaiguri ranges. The Commission directed immediate compliance, with joining reports due by March 19.
“These officers will play a crucial role in ensuring free, fair, and transparent elections. Many will also function as observers to monitor poll preparedness at the district level,” said a senior ECI official.
The reshuffle follows earlier transfers of Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravorty, Home Secretary Jagdish Prasad Meena, DGP Peeyush Pandey, and Kolkata Police Commissioner Supratim Sarkar. The 294-member West Bengal Assembly will vote in two phases on April 23 and 29, with counting scheduled for May 4.
Meanwhile, the ECI has launched one of its largest-ever deployments for elections next month in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal, alongside bye-elections in six States. Over 25 lakh election officials will be on duty, including one senior official for every 70 voters.
The deployment comprises nearly 15 lakh polling personnel, 8.5 lakh security staff, 40,000 counting personnel, 49,000 micro observers, 21,000 sector officers and additional staff specifically for vote counting.
More than 2.18 lakh Booth Level Officers will remain accessible to voters via phone and the ECINet app’s ‘Book-a-call’ feature. The ECI said this scale of mobilisation is aimed at conducting polls free of violence and inducement across 832 Assembly constituencies.
“All personnel on election duty will be considered on deputation to the Commission under Section 28A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, ensuring full administrative control during the electoral process,” the poll body said.
Additionally, 1,111 central observers-including 557 general, 188 police, and 366 expenditure monitors-have been deployed to monitor polling and report daily on grievances, meeting candidates, parties, and the public at designated times.
