Election Commission transfer list reflects political temperature

The campaign rhetoric apart, another barometer of the level of political temperature at the ongoing elections is the series of transfers that the Election Commission of India is busy effecting to ensure governmental neutrality ahead of polls.Before West Bengal heads to Phase 2 of its election, 14 high profile transfers have been effected in the state even as the Mamata Banerjee government has protested several of these. Tamil Nadu which goes to polls in a single phase has seen a larger number of transfers. As on date, at least 17 transfers have been effected in the state by the ECI.In contrast, hardly any major transfers have been ordered by the ECI in poll bound Assam and Kerala.

EC action taken so far against state government machinery ranges from suspending senior officials to attaching them to Headquarters, pulling out officials from all election duty to seeking ‘immediate disciplinary action’ against some officers.Reasons cited for EC action are several- from conflict of interest to ‘dereliction of duty’, ‘major failure of bandobast’ and on the basis of inputs from its teams of Special Observers besides reports of state Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs).Many of these actions are against high profile officials considered close to the state dispensation.

The first major transfer was effected in West Bengal on February 27 with the transfer of recently appointed ADG Law and Order Jawed Shamim. Even as that irked the ruling Trinamool, state DGP Virendra was shunted out to a non election post on March 9. Following the ‘attack’ on Banerjee- a series of transfers were ordered- from the Collector and SP of Purba Medinipur district to that of Director Security Vivek Sahay. The TMC even wrote to the ECI objecting to Sahay’s transfer as well as the former DGPs’s.Another big one has come just ahead of the Phase 2 polls with State Security Advisor Surajit Kar Puryakayastha benched until polls amid numerous complaints by opposition parties.In between SDPO Haldia, DCP South Kolkata, SP Diamond harbour, ADG West Zone, SP Coochbehar and DEO Jhargram have been transferred. On March 17, Soumya Roy, SP Howrah (Rural) wastransferred to non election post after his wife was reported as contesting as a TMC candidate for Sonapur Dakshin assembly constituency.That the political temperature is just as high in Tamil Nadu is also clear, given that the number of transfers is even higher than West Bengal.While law and order concerns bother the ECI on the West Bengal front, it is illegal money flow during elections that has plagued Tamil Nadu’s electoral arena for years.The list of transfers also bears this out.The latest transfers in the state are of IGP Tiruchirappalli alongside the SP, Collector as well as the sub collector. ACP Golden Rock Range was also suspended for dereliction of duty and attached to DGP HQ. The ECI, in fact, is looking to hand over investigation in these cases to the CBI over alleged bribing of police officials by a political party.The biggest set of transfers came in the state on 17th March with nine officials benched. While three of these came from Chennai’s Central Crime branch, another three shunted out to non-election posts were from Prohibition Enforcement wings in Tiruchirapalli, Vellore and Greater Chennai.One official from the Economic Offences Wing in Chennai, another from the Investigative Unit of Crime against women in Vilupuram besides another from the district crime records bureau of Ramanathapuram district were moved out as well.Only last week, IGP Coimbatore was transferred. The first big shunting out was probably that of SP SP Chengalpattu D Kannan transferred to non-election post on 9th March along with an Indian Revenue Service officer who was promptly moved out of Tamil Nadu and attached to the CBDT Headquarters.