The Election Commission of India late on Friday transferred Bhangar police station inspector-in-charge Shyam Prasad Saha and appointed Tirthendu Ganguly in his place, hours before Bhangar goes to polls on Saturday.

Ganguly was posted in the Special Task Force, Bengal.

“All Opposition parties, including the ISF, were alleging that the IC (Saha) was playing a partisan role to help the Trinamul candidate. As the EC wants free and fair polls, the IC was shunted,” said an EC source.

The EC also appointed Ajeet Singh Yadav, the SP of Counter Insurgency Force (CIF), as special police observer for Howrah, which also goes to polls on Saturday. Yadav will be responsible for deploying forces and maintaining law and order in the district with nine Assembly seats, including Domjur and Central Howrah.

Security officer

The EC on Friday removed Asoke Chakraborty, an officer on special duty (OSD) in the directorate of security that arranges security for VIPs, including the chief minister, from the post. No reason was cited, but sources said it could be linked to Mamata Banerjee’s injury in Nandigram on March 10.

The EC had earlier removed and suspended the director of security, Vivek Sahay, and East Midnapore police chief Pravin Prakash in that connection. The poll panel had also asked the chief secretary and the DGP to identify officers below director of security rank responsible for the incident. Both asked for time. More recently, the CID was asked to inquire into the matter.