EC Removes CS, Home Secy in Bengal; TMC MPs Stage RS Walkout
Raising the issue just before Zero Hour in the Upper House, AITC (All India Trinamool Congress) member Derek O'Brien condemned the poll panel's midnight move to reshuffle the state's top administrative hierarchy
Kolkata: Barely hours after the announcement of the West Bengal assembly poll schedule, the Election Commission removed two of the top bureaucrats, including Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravorty, of the Mamata Banerjee administration. The commission appointed Dushyant Nariala, an IAS officer of the 1993 batch, as the state's chief secretary, and said Chakravorty would be kept out of poll-related assignments.
The poll panel also removed West Bengal's Home Secretary Jagdish Prasad Meena.
In a letter to the state government sent on Sunday night, the poll panel also directed the appointment of Sanghamitra Ghosh, a 1997-batch IAS officer, as principal secretary, Home and Hill Affairs.
"...the officers transferred out shall not be posted in any election-related posts till the completion of elections," the communication, signed by commission secretary Sujeet Kr Mishra, said.
West Bengal's ruling party, Trinamool Congress, staged a day-long walkout from the Rajya Sabha on Monday, protesting the Election Commission's decision to remove the state's top bureaucrats. Raising the issue just before Zero Hour in the Upper House, AITC (All India Trinamool Congress) member Derek O'Brien condemned the poll panel's midnight move to reshuffle the state's top administrative hierarchy.
"In the dead of night, the chief secretary, the principal secretary and the home secretary have been removed by the EC. They have all the power to do it," O'Brien said, adding that his party was walking out for the day in protest.
The EC said the decision to remove the two officers was taken following a review of the poll preparedness of the state.
The poll panel said its directions are to be implemented with immediate effect, and asked for a report of the joining of the two officers in their respective offices by 3 pm on Monday.
The reshuffle, unprecedented in West Bengal's recent administrative history, was enforced in the wake of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress dispensation's constant criticism of the poll body over the ongoing SIR exercise in the state.
Some corners of the state's political circles maintained that the move was carried out to ensure administrative impartiality during the elections.
The assembly polls will be held in the state on April 23 and 29, and votes will be counted on May 4.
