The Mamata Banerjee government transferred about 270 bureaucrats hours before the Election Commission announced the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bengal, prompting Opposition parties to suggest that Nabanna had violated the poll panel’s norms.
Asked about the mass transfer of bureaucrats “in one state”, chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, however, said “all state governments have the right to undertake (a) bureaucratic rejig before the SIR process begins”, indicating that Nirvachan Sadan had no objections.
In an order dated October 24, the government transferred some 70 IAS officers and more than 200 WBCS officers. Among them were several district magistrates, additional district magistrates and subdivisional officers.
South and North 24-Parganas now have new district magistrates along with Hooghly, Birbhum, West Midnapore, East Midnapore, Jhargram, Darjeeling and Kalimpong.
Sumit Gupta, who was South 24-Parganas DM, has been appointed municipal commissioner in Calcutta, replacing Dhawal Jain who has been sent to Birbhum as DM. Cooch Behar DM Arvind Kumar Mina has been sent to South 24-Parganas as Gupta’s replacement.
North 24-Parganas DM Sharad Kumar Dwivedi has been transferred to the state health department as a secretary; Shashank Sethi, managing director of WBHIDCO, is now North 24-Parganas DM.
Sources in the state administration said these were routine transfers and underlined that most of these officials had completed three years at their previous postings.
“Under the poll panel’s norms, no officer who plays an important role during elections should spend more than three years at a single place,” a bureaucrat said.
He added: “Yes, the transfers were made hurriedly before the SIR, but they had to be carried out ahead of the 2026 elections.”
Another official explained: “Once the SIR has been announced, the state government cannot transfer any officer on its own. Each transfer has to be approved by the poll panel.
“But these officers had spent more than three years at the same place, so they had to be transferred before the polls. It’s difficult to send the files of each officer to the poll panel for approval. This is why the officers were transferred hurriedly.”
A minister said the transfers had been made before the SIR so that the officers can get familiar with their new workplaces before next year’s Assembly elections.
“The SIR will continue till the first week of February next year, and the election notification is likely to be issued at the end of February,” the minister said.
“Had the officers been transferred after the SIR, they would not have had enough time to acquaint themselves with the districts where they would be conducting the polls.”
Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari termed the transfers illegitimate and lodged a complaint with the Election Commission.
State BJP spokesperson Sajal Ghosh said Mamata Banerjee feared losing power after the SIR, “with a large number of false voters getting deleted from the rolls”.
“She is trying everything in her power to disrupt the process by making such knee-jerk moves,”he said.
CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said: “In this state, under this regime, no rules are adhered to…. There is a clear, definite purpose behind this mass transfer. Nobody can clearly say what the plan is.”
Soumya Aich Roy, the Congress’s chief spokesperson in Bengal, alleged that Trinamool was desperate to retain false voters in the electoral rolls. He accused the BJP of misusing the commission to remove legitimate voters from the rolls.
Trinamool social media chief Debangshu Bhattacharya accused the Opposition of grasping at straws to find excuses in advance for its imminent electoral defeat.
“Large-scale transfers take place routinely in government. Why should there be any link between this and the SIR? This is the Bengal Opposition unable to rise above itself,” he said.