In a strongly-worded letter, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has written to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to question its move of removing the police commissioners of Kolkata and Bidhannagar and the police superintendents of Birbhum and Diamond Harbour.
Calling the move ‘undemocratic’, the Trinamool chief has heaped criticism on the EC after it removed the top police officials on Friday night – at a time when the chief minister was in north Bengal on her election campaign.
Accusing the EC of working at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre, Mamata Banerjee has written in her letter that the EC did not seek a panel of officers from the state government as per protocol.
Calling the move to remove the top police officials ‘unjustified’ , the chief minister has asked the EC if free and fair polls will be conducted in the country as per the directives laid down by the Indian Constitution or according to the whims and fancies of the BJP.
As per sources, there were whispers in the political corridors among the state BJP leaders that such a move by the EC was imminent before the polls. On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated in a television interview that the law and order situation was so volatile in West Bengal that the EC was conducting elections in seven phases in the state.
With the EC replacing Kolkata police commissioner Anuj Sharma with Rajesh Kumar – additional director general of police (ADG), Pollution Control Board, and the Bidhannagar police commissioner Gyanwant Singh with N Ramesh Babu – ADG and inspector general of police (IGP) Operations, suspicions have been roused as to whose bidding the EC is operating on.
Both Anuj Sharma and Gyanwant Singh were present in the ‘dharna’ organised by Mamata Banerjee in the month of February to protest against Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials turning up outside the house of the then-police-commissioner Rajeev Kumar for questioning in connection with the Saradha scam. The state however has said earlier that it was not the dharna stage as alleged.
Birbhum police superintendent Shyam Singh has also been replaced by Avannu Ravindranath – deputy commissioner (Airport Division) of Bidhannagar while Srihari Pandey deputy commissioner (DC) Kolkata Armed Police (KAP), 3rd Battalion is the new police superintendent of Diamond Harbour. The officers who have been removed can in no manner be associated with polling activities as per the instructions of the EC to the state government.
In her letter, the West Bengal chief minister has asked the EC to reconsider its decision. She has also asked for an inquiry to establish who is responsible for the decision of removing the high-placed police officials in her state.
