The Election Commission of India has now ordered the transfers for four senior IPS officers in West Bengal, including the state's Director General of Police and the Kolkata police commissioner, after reviewing poll preparedness.
The officers were shuffled and given new postings. The development comes just a day after the EC announced the poll dates for the assembly elections. The elections are to be held in two phases on April 23 and 29.
The directive issued by ECI Secretary Sujeet Kumar Mishra read, “I am directed to state that the Commission has reviewed the poll preparedness for the General Election to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal, 2026 and directs the following:
i. Shri Siddh Nath Gupta (IPS - 1992) be posted as DG & IGP, Govt. of West Bengal (In-charge)
ii. Shri Natarajan Ramesh Babu (IPS -1991) be posted as DG, Correctional Services, Govt. of West Bengal
iii. Shri Ajay Mukund Ranade (IPS - 1995) be posted as ADG & IGP (Law & Order), Govt. of West Bengal
iv. Shri Ajay Kumar Nand (IPS - 1996), be posted as Commissioner, Kolkata Police”
Among key police officials who took charge at the end of January, Siddh Nath Gupta replaces Peeyush Pandey as DG&IGP and Ajay Kumar replaces Kolkata Police Commissioner Supratim Sarkar.
The ECI had earlier directed that Dushyant Nariala replace Nandini Chakraborty as Chief Secretary and Sanghamitra Ghosh to take over as Principal Secretary, Hill and Home Affairs.
“The Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, in his press conference yesterday, had assured that elections in West Bengal would be violence-free and peaceful. In pursuance of this objective, ECI has appointed and transferred senior police officials in the state, including the DGP of state police and CP of Kolkata police,” the ECI official said in the announcement.
The ECI’s transfer announcements of both the West Bengal bureaucrats and top police officials comes immediately after their review of the state in their visits, including one that took place last week. The ECI team from Delhi, including Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, had met various political parties, law enforcement agencies and polling officers during their two day visit. The visit was marred by protesters' slogans of ‘Go Back’ and black flags shown to the CEC’s convoy and outside the hotel.
