E-Paper
Three poll panel officials transferred in West Bengal ahead of crucial assembly polls
The transfer orders came in around 10 days after the full bench of the EC visited the state to take stock of the poll preparedness
Three senior officials in the chief electoral officer’s (CEO) office in poll-bound West Bengal have been transferred by the Election Commission of India.
Among those transferred is additional CEO Saibal Barman, a senior IAS officer, who was in charge of crucial wings such as law and order and deployment of security forces.
The other two officers are joint CEO Anamika Majumdar and deputy CEO Amitjyoti Bhattacharji. While Majumdar looked after management of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and training of poll personnel, Bhattacharji was in charge of the media cell.
Barman had handled at least two Lok Sabha and two assembly elections in the state since 2011. Majumdar and Bhattacharji have been with the poll panel since 2012 and 2013 respectively. It is also not clear yet where the three officials have been transferred.
The transfer orders came in around 10 days after the full bench of the EC, comprising chief election commissioner Sunil Arora and election commissioners Sushil Chandra and Rajiv Kumar visited the state to take stock of the poll preparedness.
A senior official said that the state government has sent a list of nine officers from which the EC would select the replacements.
