The state has sent a list of 12 IPS officers to the Election Commission, seeking permission to deploy them in key posts left vacant after a series of shuffles by the poll panel.
An approval from the ECI was pending till Wednesday evening.
The proposal on Wednesday was meant to fill posts in the city police and at
the commissionerates of Bidhannagar, Barrackpore, Siliguri, Chandannagar and the Sundarban police directorate.
The posts include deputy commissioners for the south-east and east divisions of Kolkata Police, and deputy commissioners for two battalions of the Kolkata Police armed force. “Some key posts of deputy commissioners of Kolkata Police, Bidhannagar police, Chandannagar, Barrackpore and Siliguri are lying vacant after the recent transfers,” said an official of the state home department.
The ECI controls all such decisions during elections.
It has so far removed 31 IPS officers and 184 inspectors from their posts and barred them from any election-related duties.
The state police have reinstated the officers in other posts, but that has again resulted in vacancies across
the state.
Sources in the police said that with the removal of so many officers from key posts, it was difficult to fill all vacancies with officers with the experience of handling elections.
“With less than a month left, we do not have DCs
in several divisions. This is
incredible. We are struggling to find officers who have not been removed from election-related posts. So we sent this proposal,” said a senior officer in the state home
department.
One of the officers whose name was mentioned in the proposal had earlier been removed by the ECI from the post of a district superintendent of police.
“His name is being proposed for a non-poll post,” an official explained.