New Delhi: In what can spell more trouble for the Mamata Banerjee government, the Election Commission has made a whole set transfers in West Bengal, ahead of the third phase of the election on Tuesday.

In a letter dated April 22, the EC has transferred the officer-in-charge of Raghunathganj and Farakka police station IC Uday Shankar Ghosh and Bidhan Haldar who is the assistant sub-inspector of Shamsherganj police station, all of which falls under Murshidabad district that goes to polls on Tuesday.

The EC has also transferred two other officers from Western Bardhaman district, one officer from North 24 Parganas and another from the Bankura district.

The election body in its order said, "The officers being transferred not to be involved by the State Government in any election-related duties". The Commission, which earlier too has made similar large scale transfers in Bengal, has also asked for a compliance report from the TMC-led Bengal government.

This is not the first time the Bengal government came under the EC ire. Earlier, in a ruling that is largely being considered as a setback for Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the Election Commission has decided that the 92% of the security at polling stations will be managed by the Central forces. The state police were providing security for these booths earlier.

Bengal witnessed large scale violence and open intimidation in the first two phases of the poll. During the first phase of polling, a video surfaced from Cooch Behar's Sitalkuchi area that showed alleged Trinamool men intimidating a couple who had come to vote. During the second phase, the body of a BJP worker was found hanging from a tree in Purulia. The car of CPI(M) leader and sitting Raiganj MP Mohammed Salim was attacked at Islampur. Salim had visited the area on being informed about booth-capturing. Then, in Chopra that falls under the Darjeeling constituency, voters blocked the road, complaining of intimidation by Trinamool goons.



This is not the first large scale transfers in Bengal at the insistence of EC. Recently, the Election Commission removed Malda’s Superintendent of Police Arnab Ghosh and put Ajay Prasad in his place. Earlier, the BJP had requested Ghosh to be removed, considering his closeness to the Mamata government. Bengal is witnessing unprecedented 7-phase polling.