ECI shifts 173 police station heads ahead of Bengal polls
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday transferred officers-in-charge and inspectors-in-charge of 173 police stations across West Bengal, including 31 under Kolkata Police, as part of measures to ensure free and fair Assembly elections, officials said. Officers posted in key constituencies such as Bhabanipur in Kolkata and Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district were included in the reshuffle.
The transfers also involved inspectors and sub-inspectors assigned as ICs and OCs in districts including Cooch Behar, Malda, Murshidabad, Birbhum, Paschim Medinipur, Howrah, and North and South 24 Parganas.
According to the order, Soumitra Basu, previously with the Special Task Force (STF), will take charge as IC of the Bhabanipur police station.
In Bhabanipur, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is set to face her former protege-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari, turning her long-held bastion into one of the State’s most closely watched and fiercely contested Assembly seats.
The OCs of other key stations, such as Alipore, Ekbalpore, Haridevpur, Entally, Jorasanko, Gariahat, Bhawanipore, New Market, Bowbazar, Tollygunge, Amherst Street, Taratala, and Behala, were also transferred.
Debdulal Mondal has been posted as IC of Haldia, Kajal Dutta to Kolaghat, Susanta Chattopadhyay from Alipurduar to Egra, and Chandrakanta Shasmal as OC of Patashpur, officials said.
In a parallel move, the commission also ordered the transfer of 14 block development officers (BDOs) in Purba Medinipur, including those in Nandigram I and Nandigram II blocks.
Poll body officials said such large-scale transfers are aimed at ensuring neutrality in law enforcement and maintaining a level playing field during the elections by minimising local influence.
Earlier in the day, the EC transferred 83 block development officers and assistant returning officers across 18 districts of the State.
The large-scale reshuffle covers blocks ranging from Dinhata-II in Cooch Behar to Diamond Harbour-I and II in South 24 Parganas district, along with Ramnagar, Nandigram-I and II, Nanoor, Labhpur, Suri-I, Mohammad Bazar, Ilambazar and Mayureswar-I, among others, they said.
Districts affected by the transfers include Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, North and South Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, East and West Midnapore, Purulia, Bankura, East and West Burdwan, and Birbhum, officials added.
The directive was issued by the commission from its New Delhi office, a senior poll official said.
The move comes amid continuing friction between the State Government and the Centre over the transfer of officials ahead of elections.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has on multiple occasions alleged that such reshuffles are politically motivated.
The elections to the 294-member West Bengal assembly will be held in two phases - on April 23 and 29. Votes will be counted on May 4.
ECI publishes 4TH supplementary voter list
Kolkata: The ECI has published the fourth supplementary voter list after SIR adjudications in poll-bound West Bengal, an official said. There was, however, no information from the ECI on the total number of deletions or inclusions.
“The fourth list has been released. We cannot tell anything else other than this,” the official said on Sunday. Around 60 lakh names were marked as “under adjudication” in the final voters’ list published on February 28. Following that, 705 judicial officers were engaged to determine whether these names would be kept or deleted from the electoral rolls.
Polling for the 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held on April 23 and 29, with counting scheduled for May 4.
PM Modi pays tributes to freedom fighter Shyamji Krishna Varma
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New Delhi, Mar 30 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday paid tributes to freedom fighter Shyamji Krishna Varma on his death anniversary and said his life and ideals will continue to inspire every generation to serve the country.
Varma was born on October 4, 1857, in Mandvi town of Kutch district in Gujarat and died on this day in 1930.
“Homage to the brave son of Mother India, Shyamji Krishna Varma, on his death anniversary. Through his revolutionary ideas, he awakened a new consciousness in the freedom movement. His life and ideals will continue to inspire every generation of the nation to serve the country,” Modi said in a post on X.
The prime minister said the life of Varma gives people remarkable inspiration of courage and determination.
“It also instils in citizens a sense of duty toward the nation,” he said.
Varma was one of the foremost freedom fighters in the history of India’s freedom movement. He had founded a revolutionary centre in “India House” in London and propagated the cause of independence through his writings in his publication journal, “The Indian Sociologist”.
