The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday removed four district magistrates in Bengal on the premise that they were not IAS officers, who are supposed to be made the administrative heads of districts according to central government norms.
Several senior IAS officers in the state welcomed the decision — the first such move by the ECI in recent memory. However, a section of officers, especially those belonging to the West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS) — called the removals “unfair.”
“Taking forward its commitment for a level playing field in the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections 2024, the Election Commission of India (ECI) today has issued transfer orders for non-cadre officers who are posted at leadership positions as District Magistrates (DM) and Superintendent of Police (SP) in four states namely Gujarat, Punjab, Odisha and West Bengal. Post of DM and SP in the district are en-cadred for officers from Indian Administrative and Indian Police Service respectively,” said a news release issued by Nirvachan Sadan on Thursday.
Tanvir Afzal, Sunil Agarwal, Bidhan Ray and Purnendu Maji, the DMs of East Midnapore, Jhargram, East Burdwan and Birbhum, respectively, were among the transferred officers.
A senior IAS officer said on the condition of anonymity that the move was justified as the existing rules did not allow the WBCS officers to conduct elections as the heads of districts.
“There is no problem if a promoted IAS officer, from the rank of the WBCS, conducts the polls.... But here, all these are WBCS officers,” said the IAS officer.
Multiple sources in the state administration said all the four officers faced the axe because of their close proximity to the ruling establishment.
“All the four officers had been accused of favouring the ruling party in the past..... Their equation with the ruling party, even during the Left rule, is an open secret in the administration. Many in the WBCS cadre even think they were picked up as DMs only because of their bias for the ruling party during the elections and on other matters. The decision to remove them should not be contested on the basis of fairness,” said a senior bureaucrat.
The move, however, drew a sharp reaction from the association of WBCS officers who said it was insulting for a 1,800-strong cadre.
“The Representation of the People’s Act, 1951 does not specify that a district magistrate, who acts as the district election officer, should have to be an IAS officer. Rather, it mentions that an officer posted by the state government can play the role of a district election officer. The order has hurt our sentiment and we submitted a letter opposing the move to the chief electoral officer (CEO, who is the representative of the ECI in the state) in Calcutta this evening,” Santanu Mukherjee, secretary of the WBCS (Executive) Association, said on Thursday.
Sources in the CEO’s office in Calcutta said the letter sent by the WBCS (Executive) Association had been forwarded to the ECI.
Several WBCS officers said as the move had hurt the sentiment of the state cadre officers, many of them might lose interest in holding the polls properly.
“... more than 1,500 WBCS officers are working hard on the field to ensure a free and fair election. If the morale of these officers is hurt, it would be difficult for the ECI to hold the polls properly,” said a WBCS officer.
Some WBCS officers wondered whether the objective of “providing a level playing field during the elections” could be fulfilled only by IAS officers.
“If that is true, then why so many IAS officers were removed on charges of playing a role in favour of the ruling party in Bengal during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the 2021 Assembly polls....,” asked another WBCS officer.
