West Bengal Election: EC transfers 4 IPS officers ahead of sixth phase polling

Ahead of the sixth phase of West Bengal Assembly polls scheduled on April 22, the Election Commission has transferred four Indian Police Service (IPS) officers to non-election-related posts in the State. The order read -

"Officers transferred out shall not be posted in any election-related posts till the completion of elections. The joining reports to be sent to the Commission today itself."

The Superintendant of Police of Purba Bardhaman, Bhaskar Mukherjee, has been replaced with 2011 batch IPS officer Ajeet Kumar Singh, Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissioner Sukesh Jain has been replaced with Mitesh Jain, and Superintendant of Police Birbhum Miraj Khalid has been replaced with Nagendra Nath Tripathi, a 2009 batch IPS officer. Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Bilour, Birbhum, Abhishek Roy has been replaced with Nagaraj Devarakonda. 

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O'Brien explicitly showed his displeasure towards EC's decision. He criticised the autonomous government body for taking this decision 48 hours prior to the polls. 

Ahead of the final phases of Assembly elections, TMC leader Derek O'Brien also said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will not campaign any further in Kolkata in the wake of the COVID-19 upsurge. 

West Bengal Assembly Elections

The first five phases of the eight-phase West Bengal Assembly Elections has been concluded. The sixth phase of the State Assembly elections is scheduled for April 22. The seventh and eighth phases will be held on April 26 and April 29 respectively. The counting of votes will be held on May 2. The voter turnout for the seats that went to the polls in the first, second, third, fourth and fifth phases was 84.63 per cent, 86.11 per cent, 84.61 per cent, 79.90 per cent & 79.18 per cent respectively. 

COVID-19 situation in West Bengal

While India is witnessing an unguessable COVID-19 crisis, West Bengal has so far recorded over 6,51,508 positive cases, out of which, 5,95,668 have recovered successfully and 10,540 have died. As per the latest reports, in the past 24 hours, 7,713 new cases, 3,426 fresh recoveries and 34 deaths have been reported. Currently, the total number of active COVID-19 cases in the poll-bound State is 45,300.