The Election Commission has prepared a list of nearly 1,000 “troublemakers” that includes several Trinamool MLAs, candidates and councillors and has been shared informally with senior state police officers through WhatsApp, with oral instructions to act.

But in the absence of written instructions from the commission, the police have so far been hesitant to take any action on the basis of the list, WhatsApped to them by the poll panel’s “police observers”, sources said.

The list includes Behala Purba Trinamool candidate Ratna Chatterjee, Kasba councillor Sushanta Ghosh, and party leaders Paresh Paul from Beleghata and Swarup Biswas — brother of power minister Aroop Biswas — from Rashbehari.

Also named are MLA and Ashoknagar candidate Narayan Goswami, and former Rajya Sabha member Santanu Sen from Cossipore-Belgachia, among other ruling party leaders.

More than 10 “troublemakers” have been identified from chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s constituency of Bhabanipur alone. Among them is Trinamool leader Kumar Saha, whose home a central agency searched last week.

On Sunday evening, this newspaper contacted several Trinamool leaders featured on the list for reactions. One of them declined comment while the others said they were too busy with the campaign.

Trinamool accused the poll panel of acting at the BJP’s behest.

“People know that ‘Vanish’ Kumar is the biggest troublemaker. As he is preparing a list of troublemakers under instructions from the BJP, it is natural that the list will have Trinamool leaders, candidates and MLAs,” party spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said.

“The answer to such a biased act will come from the people of Bengal when the results come out on May 4.”

Another Trinamool leader, based in south Calcutta, asked why the “one-sided” list did not include anyone from the BJP.

“A very prominent BJP leader who is contesting the elections has multiple cases by central agencies against him. Why is his name not on the list?” the leader said.

Police sources confirmed that it was the “police observers” — senior officers from outside whom the commission has appointed to oversee the state force’s handling of the election — who had shared the list on WhatsApp with Bengal’s city and district police chiefs.

They said these police observers were also calling up senior officers on WhatsApp, asking them to act and seeking “compliance”.

But in the absence of any formal, supporting order from the poll panel, the police brass are hesitant.

“Only compliance has been sought. But we do not know on what grounds action can be taken against those whose names have been shared,” a senior city police officer said.

Sources said the list shared with the police chiefs does not mention the criteria behind its compilation.

Some of the prominent Trinamool leaders named have their mobile numbers and addresses mentioned, possibly to eliminate any confusion in identifying them, an officer said.

In keeping with standard election-time practice, the various police stations have been drawing up their own lists of troublemakers from their areas on the basis of the criminal cases they face and considering their role in past political violence.