The Election Commission has asked new Bengal chief secretary Dushyant Nariala to submit a list of state government officers and employees reemployed after their retirement in an apparent move to check if any of them have been engaged in the electoral exercise.

“No retired officer or employee can be engaged in the polling process, as they cannot be held accountable in case of any malpractice. Once the list comes, the EC will check the roles of each officer and initiate necessary steps in case it finds anything suspicious,” said a source in the office of the chief electoral officer in Bengal.

EC sources said the aim was to prevent Nabanna from meddling in the poll process at any cost in the interest of free and fair polls.

During its poll preparedness meeting in Calcutta between March 8 and 10, chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar warned top officials of the state government against "interference" in the election process after it reportedly realised that many of the district magistrates (who function as district election officers) could not work properly when the special intensive revision of the poll roll was being carried out because of the "intervention" of a section of the top officials of Nabanna.

Then chief secretary Nandini Chakravorty and four other top civil and police officers were transferred by the EC within hours of the announcement of Assembly poll dates on March 15.

“Now the EC wants to be sure that there are no officials left to interfere during the poll process in Bengal. The EC has been worried to learn that several former chief secretaries have been reappointed in various positions, including adviser to the chief minister,” said a poll panel source.

“It has to be checked whether any of these former chief secretaries has been keeping in contact with district officials and giving them instructions to stop following the EC directives,” said a source.

The EC has also asked the chief secretary to submit a list of officers who were transferred after February 28.

“Many officials, including the DMs, the SDOs and the BDOs, were transferred barely days before the Assembly election dates were declared on March 15. There is hardly any doubt that these officials were posted in the new positions according to a plan of the ruling dispensation. Once the list comes, the poll panel would verify each of the transfers. If required, they will be transferred again,” said a poll panel source.

Sources said that the transfers of these officials roughly a fortnight before the poll dates were announced drew the attention of the EC as they play an important role in conducting polls.

The DMs play the most vital role in a district as the DEO, guiding the entire election process in the district.

Officers in the SDO rank also play key roles as they are designated as returning officers of Assembly segments in a district. The BDOs, in turn, are important in managing the election machinery at the booth level.

“The ruling party always wants to deploy officers of its choice in these important positions during the elections. In Bengal, it is often alleged that a section of the officials play a partisan role to help the ruling party during the polls. This is the reason why the poll panel wants to check each of the postings,” said a source.

The EC has already started transferring some newly posted officers. On Wednesday, the EC transferred the Darjeeling and Alipurduar DMs who were posted after February 28.