The Election Commission of India (ECI) has appointed seven Bengal IAS officers on its own as observers for the five-phased Jharkhand elections from November 25.

Earlier, the ECI had decided to engage 34 IAS officers as observers and asked Bengal to send them for training in Delhi on October 31. But the state had sent a list of 10.

“The ECI has appointed two of the 10 officers. The remaining eight proposed by the state were kept in reserve. In addition, the poll panel has appointed seven officers unilaterally and asked them to report in Jharkhand as observers. This time, the ECI has informed the officers individually,” said a source.

A section of the officers in Bengal said this was a departure from the norms. “The standard practice is that the ECI seeks names from the state and once it sends the list, the officers are appointed as observers. In this case, the ECI did not appoint eight officers proposed by Bengal but selected seven others without consulting the state,” said a source.

Although it is still not clear whether the state would lodge an official protest with the ECI, the officers appointed directly by the panel are in a fix. “The ECI has emailed them directly asking them to report in Jharkhand. But they will require a clearance from the Bengal government to leave,” said a source.

The officers fear that if they don’t report in Jhakhand, the poll panel could propose departmental proceedings against them. “A file would be put up before the chief minister on the issue. The top brass will take the final call on this,” a bureaucrat said.

Sources said the ECI decided to appoint IAS officers from Bengal as observers on its own after the state had turned down the poll panel’s request two months ago to send the names of 90 officers who could be posted as observers for the polls in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand.