After announcing Bengal election Dates, EC replaces WB ADG (Law & Order) Jawed Shamim

A day after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the dates for West Bengal polls, the Election Commission on Saturday removed the Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Jawed Shamim and brought in current DG Fire Services Jag Mohan in his place. As per the order by EC, Shamin, who is a 1995-batch IPS officer, will replace Mohan as the DG Fire Services in the rank of ADG. 

EC removes Bengal's ADG (Law & Order) 

This shuffle in the positions allegedly came after a BJP delegation, which included MPs Swapan Dasgupta and Arjun Singh, met CEO Ariz Aftab and urged him to remove "biased" police officers from election duty. Earlier this month, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government had made Shamim, who was Special Commissioner of Police (II) of the Kolkata Police, the state ADG. 

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"The way the police administration is functioning in West Bengal, it is evident that fair polling is not possible here. We can name a few police officers who are posted in the city. If they continue in their posts, free and fair elections are not possible," Dasgupta told reporters after meeting the CEO.

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Speaking about the increased number of phases in the upcoming state Assembly elections, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Friday said that when the EC assesses the law and order situation, the assessment is based on several factors and it also accounts for charges and counter-charges by political parties. 

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West Bengal's political situation

The political temperature in West Bengal is soaring high with the incidents of political violence, mudslinging and name-calling. The BJP has exuded confidence that it will cross the 200 seat mark, however, TMC via its poll strategist Prashant Kishore has contended that BJP will not cross double digits. The exodus from TMC with dozens of its members jumping ship to join BJP may also become a major hindrance for the ruling party. The BJP, on the other hand, has gone full throttle by dispatching its top leadership brass including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President JP Nadda among others to West Bengal to hold public rallies and election campaigning. The BJP has held several Parivartan Yatras as a part of its poll campaigning. The BJP has even dared CM Mamata Banerjee to announce her candidature from Nandigram alone if she is so confident of winning the constituency. The Prime Minister has also already addressed a number of rallies in Bengal and will address even more - with the BJP eyeing a total of 1500 overall before the elections.

This year, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced that the Assembly elections for West Bengal will be held in eight phases across 1,01,916 polling stations from March 27 to April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. 

20 Assembly constituencies in 5 districts of the state will go to polls in the first phase on March 27. 30 Assembly constituencies in 4 districts will go to polls in the second phase of April 1. Later in the third phase, 31 constituencies in 3 districts will go to the polls on April 6. 44 constituencies in 5 districts will go for polling on April 10. In the fifth phase, 45 constituencies in six districts will witness polling on April 17. 43 constituencies in four districts in the sixth phase will go to polls on April 22. 36 constituencies in five districts in the seventh phase will go for polling on April 26. In the eighth and final phase, 35 constituencies in four districts will witness polling on April 29. 

Besides announcing the polling dates, the ECI has also announced that it has appointed two special poll observers- Vivek Dubey and MK Das as well.

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