State seeks ECI exemption for 9 IAS officers from Central observer duty

Kolkata: The Bengal government on Thursday wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI), seeking exemption for nine IAS officers — including state Home Secretary Jagdish Prasad Meena — from being appointed as Central observers in poll-bound states and Union Territories such as Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

In its communication, Nabanna cited challenges in maintaining law and order and ensuring smooth administrative functioning as the reason for requesting the continued deployment of these senior officers in the state rather than assigning them election duties elsewhere. The apex poll body on Wednesday released a list of 15 IAS and 10 IPS officers from Bengal who are to be deployed as Central observers in the poll-bound states.

Apart from Meena, the other IAS officers who were in the list included Asvini Kumar Yadav, PB Salim, Avanindra Singh, Saumitra Mohan, Smaraki Mahapatra, Archana, Sanjay Bansal, P Mohangandhi, Shubhanjan Das, P Ulaganathan, Saurav Pahari, Rachna Bhagat, Ritendra Narayan Basu Roy Chowdhury and Rajanvir Singh Kapur.

According to Nabanna sources, apart from Meena, the state has asked for the release of IAS officers Sanjay Bansal, P Mohangandhi, Avanindra Singh, Saumitra Mohan, Shubhanjan Das, PB Salim, Rachna Bhagat and P Ulaganathan.

The alternative list that Nabanna has sent to the apex poll body includes Rajiv Kumar, Abhinav Chandra, Niranjan Kumar, Dr Viswanath, Apala Seth, Tapas Kumar Bagchi, Sasim Kumar Barai, Sonam Bhutia and R Arjun. Meanwhile, two of the 10 IPS officers, Bharat Lal Meena and Rishikesh Meena has cited release from duty of the central observer citing personal and professional reasons.

In another major development, Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravarty on Tuesday responded to the strong letter from the apex poll body, which had objected to the transfer of three senior IAS officers associated with the SIR process in the state without its consent.

According to sources at Nabanna, the three IAS officers, who were acting as roll observers in connection with the ongoing SIR, were transferred to ease the heavy workload they were handling. The state government said the officers have since been assigned comparatively lighter responsibilities and expressed hope that the Commission would take note of and acknowledge its decision.

The poll body had directed the immediate cancellation of the transfer orders of Ashwini Kumar Yadav, electoral roll observer for North and South Dinajpur; Randhir Kumar, in charge of North 24 Parganas and Kolkata North; and Smita Pandey, responsible for West Burdwan, East Burdwan and Birbhum, and sought a compliance report in this regard by 3 pm on January 28.