Calcutta, April 22: The Election Commission today removed the district magistrate of South 24-Parganas and the police chief of North 24-Parganas for alleged bias towards the ruling party, taking the tally of such removals to 59.

The commission replaced district magistrate P.B. Salim with Avanindra Singh. IPS officer Tanmoy Roy Chowdhury was replaced by Annappa E as the police chief of North 24-Parganas.

The poll panel also removed six officers in charge and seven inspectors in charge of various police stations in the two Parganas as well as in Howrah, Hooghly and Cooch Behar.

"The officers were removed to tighten the law and order machinery ahead of the next phases. There were complaints of bias and inaction against the officers. The commission has a zero-tolerance policy on such matters," a poll panel official said this evening.

The commission had on Tuesday sought a list of names from the state government to replace those whom it planned to remove. The list from Nabanna had the names of both Avanindra Singh and Annappa E, sources said.

The sources said both Salim and Roy Chowdhury were under the commission's scanner for their alleged unwillingness to address complaints lodged by the Opposition against ruling party workers.

"They had been warned a number of times. But while others corrected their course of action to toe the commission's line, Salim and Roy Chowdhury did not," said an administrative official in South 24-Parganas who is privy to interactions between the commission and the officials.

According to an IAS officer, the removal of Salim and Roy Chowdhury will not only be a "taint" on their career, but it will also prevent them from working in any election conducted by the commission in the future.

"Even if the new government decides to reinstate them honourably, the commission will keep removing them before every general election. That's a taint on the career of any civil servant," an official said.

Poll panel officials said at least one more district magistrate and another district police chief could be removed over the next few days. Some other officers in charge and inspectors in charge of police stations could also be removed.

"Never before have so many heads rolled during an election process in Bengal. This indicates that the commission feels the necessity to clean up the administration for the sake of free and fair polls," the official added.

The replacements for Salim and Roy Chowdhury were picked from a list of six IAS and six IPS officers sent by Nabanna on Tuesday.

The commission's decision to seek replacements followed complaints by Nabanna that its opinion wasn't taken while replacing officers.

"The commission has picked Avanindra and Annappa from a list of 12 names. They must have dwelt at length before taking a decision for the two Parganas," said a Nabanna source.