The Election Commission on Wednesday removed Anurag Yadav, the general observer of the Cooch Behar South Assembly seat, during a virtual meeting with 294 observers posted across as many Assembly constituencies in Bengal.
Sources said chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar decided on the removal as Yadav, a 2000-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, reportedly failed to furnish even basic details of the constituency, such as the number of polling booths.
Yadav reportedly shot back at the CEC, saying that he had been working for 25 years and should not be treated in such a manner.
A political observer said this showed that the Election Commission had a zero-tolerance approach to lapses, particularly in sensitive areas such as Cooch Behar, which saw violence during past polls.
District Trinamool leaders in Cooch Behar reacted to Yadav's removal.
“The CEC told an IAS officer with 25 years of experience that he should go back home," said Abhijit De Bhowmik, the Cooch Behar Trinamool president.
"For the past few days, we (Trinamool leaders and workers) were perturbed by his (Yadav's) activities as our publicity materials were taken down and impediments were created for us. Still, the EC exerted more pressure on him," De Bhowmik said. "Anurag Yadav reacted to it. It shows that a section of IAS officers is not ready to comply with the EC's illogical directives."