An IPS officer of the rank of superintendent of police from the Odisha cadre will oversee the Bengal Assembly elections as a police observer.

Appointing Saravana Vivek M as the police observer, the Election Commission said in a notification that he “will be stationed at the office of the Chief Electoral Office, West Bengal, at Kolkata” and will be “deemed to be on deputation to the Election Commission during the period”.

“You will be subject to the control, superintendence, and discipline of the Election Commission,” the notification said.

The 2015-batch IPS officer, who holds an MBBS degree from the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute in Puducherry, will supervise preparedness ahead of the Assembly elections, to be held in two phases on
April 23 and April 29.

Sources in the EC said Saravana will directly contact the 84 IPS officers from different states and Union territories who will serve as police observers during the polls. Six of them have been selected as police observers in areas mostly under the jurisdiction of Kolkata Police.

“You are also required to give inputs to the Commission from time to time as per the directions of the Commission. The timeline of duty will start from the date of your appointment and will end on the date of completion of elections,” the EC notification said.

The EC’s appointment of a police observer from Odisha came within two days of the poll panel effecting a police shuffle in Calcutta and the districts, less than a fortnight before the first phase of voting.

Senior Kolkata Police officers, who have already been interacting with the police observers deployed in Calcutta, said they were unsure whether further transfers were imminent before the polls. “There have been instances when senior Kolkata Police officers were replaced just days before the polls, following the police observer’s recommendation to the EC,” a senior officer said. “The officer-in-charge of Regent Park police station was replaced just a few days before the 2021 elections after the police observer felt he was not fulfilling his duties to expectations.”

Saravana, whose Instagram bio says “Doctor, IPS, Philosophy, Cricket, Fitness”, has served as superintendent of police in various Odisha districts, including Rayagada and Berhampur.

“As the police observer, his immediate task will be to seek reports from all the police observers on the state of preparedness for the polls, including what measures they have taken to ensure voters can exercise their rights freely, without facing intimidation,” a poll panel official said.

Some senior state police officers pointed out that while the EC selected Saravana to be police observer for Bengal in the rank of superintendent of police, it chose Supratim Sarkar, holding the rank of additional director general of police, to be police observer for Tamil Nadu.