Bengal Assembly Election: EC transfers chief secretary, home secretary, DGP hours after announcing poll schedule

West Bengal Assembly Election Dates: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced the transfer of senior officers in the state government hours after the schedule for the West Bengal assembly elections, to be held in two phases, was announced. The directives have to be implemented by 3 PM today, as per the poll panel's order. 

In a letter dated 15 March, addressed to the Chief Secretary of the West Bengal government in Kolkata, the Election Commission said it has reviewed the poll preparedness for the general election to the legislative assembly of West Bengal and directed the transfers of two officials.

The EC has directed that Dushyant Nariala, an IAS officer of the 1993 batch, be posted as Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal. Sanghamitra Ghosh, IAS officer of the 1997 batch, has been posted as Principal Secretary, Home and Hill Affairs, Government of West Bengal as per the order.

"I am directed to state that the Commission has reviewed the poll preparedness for the General Election to Legislative Assembly of West Bengal, 2026 and directs the following: Dushyant Nariala, (IAS-1993) be posted as Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal. Sanghamitra Ghosh, (IAS-1997) be posted as Principal Secretary, Home and Hill Affairs, Govt. of West Bengal," the letter signed by Sujeet Kumar Mishra, Secretary, ECI, read.

The new appointments come hours after the poll panel on Sunday announced the schedule for upcoming assembly elections in four states, including West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Assam, as well as the Union Territory of Puducherry. The Election Model Code of Conduct comes into place soon after the election dates are announced. The poll panel is empowered to order the transfer of officials during MCC.

"The directions of the Commission to be implemented with immediate effect and a compliance report in respect of the joining of above officers be sent by 03:00 PM on March 16, 2026. Further, the officers transferred out shall not be posted in any election-related posts till the completion of elections," the letter said.

The EC has removed the current Chief Secretary, Nandini Chakraborty, from her post and appointed Dushyant Nariala in her place.

The elections in West Bengal will be conducted in two phases on April 23 and 29. Kerala and Assam will vote in a single phase on April 9, while Tamil Nadu will vote on April 23. Voting in Puducherry will also take place on April 9. The counting of votes for all four states and Puducherry will be held on May 4, the ECI announced.

TMC, BJP react

The TMC reacted to transfers. “The Election Commission has now carried out the transfers that the BJP had been loudly demanding. For us, this only deepens an uncomfortable question, are constitutional institutions being allowed to function independently, or are they increasingly being nudged to serve BJP’s political script?,” TMC said in a post on X.

The opposition BJP also reacted to the development. “About 250 of our workers and members were killed before, during and after the 2021 assembly elections. We urged the Election Commission to ensure that no officer having links to the ruling party should be part of election machinary,” Debjit Sarkar, spokesperson of West Bengal BJP, told Hindustan Times.

ECI transfers DGP too

On 16 March, the ECI also transferred four senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers in West Bengal, including the state’s Director General of Police (DGP) and the Kolkata Police Commissioner.

Siddh Nath Gupta, a 1992-batch IPS officer, will replace Peeyush Pandey as the new DGP of West Bengal. Ajay Kumar Nand will replace Supratim Sarker as the new commissioner of Kolkata Police.

The DG of Correctional Services and the ADG Law and Order were also transferred. Natarajan Ramesh Babu would be the new DG Correctional Services, and Ajay Mukund Ranade was posted as the new ADG Law and Order.

(With ANI inputs)