The Election Commission of India has removed West Bengal deputy chief electoral officer Subrata Pal and shifted him to the health department, extending a series of administrative changes in West Bengal ahead of the Assembly polls.

Rahul Nath, who was serving as additional secretary in the health and family welfare department, has been posted as joint CEO.

The latest move follows multiple actions by the EC in recent days.

On March 18, the EC transferred 10 IPS officers at the rank of deputy inspector general and inspector general of police, including the commissioners of police of Bidhannagar and Siliguri.

With this, the total number of police officers transferred since Monday stands at 33.

On March 25, the EC transferred East Midnapore district magistrate and district election officer Unice Rishin Ismail and posted Niranjan Kumar, a 2007-batch IAS officer, in his place.

The decision came after the Election Commission found that some contractual employees’ names were included in the database prepared for deployment on poll duties.

The EC also removed 83 block development officers (BDOs) across the state on March 29, including those in Nandigram I and II, after receiving complaints of partisanship ahead of the polls.

In Malda, the central poll body replaced the police observer assigned to four Assembly constituencies after the Trinamool alleged that his wife had links with BJP leaders in Bihar.

Jayant Kant, an IPS officer from Uttar Pradesh, was removed from the role of police observer for Manikchak, Mothabari, Sujapur and Baishnabnagar. Hriday Kant, an IPS officer from the Bihar cadre, was appointed in his place on March 28.

On March 22, the EC asked the Bengal government to send a list of officers-in-charge and inspectors-in-charge of police stations who “may not be able to conduct a free and fair election”, a senior police officer said.