The Election Commission of India on Monday appointed Vivek Sahay, an IPS officer of the 1988 batch, as Bengal's director general of police within hours of removing Rajeev Kumar from the post.

Kumar is the first IPS officer to have been transferred in Bengal ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Sahay was chosen from a list of "three eligible officers", which the state government sent in response to the EC's afternoon order directing Bengal's chief secretary to suggest Kumar's replacements "latest by 5pm."

Sahay apart, the other two senior IPS officers were Sanjay Mukherjee and Dr Rajesh Kumar.

Sahay, serving as director-general and commandant-general, home guards, was selected for his seniority, home department sources said.

An officer of the 1989 batch, Kumar became the DGP in December 2023 after Manoj Malaviya retired. On Monday, he was shifted to his earlier posting as an officer on special duty in the rank of an additional secretary in the information technology and electronics department.

"The EC directed Kumar be shifted to a non-election related post with immediate effect and we have complied," said a senior home department home. "This transfer, to our understanding, is temporary till the elections are over and the results declared."

While it wasn't exactly clear why Kumar was shifted out of his post, sources said the officer came under scrutiny following criticism from the BJP and other Opposition parties about the alleged inaction of the Bengal police in Sandeshkhali.

Last month, Kumar visited the troubled North 24-Parganas island with a team of senior officers and promised to establish the rule of law in the face of fierce protests from women alleging various excesses by local Trinamul strongman Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides.

Senior BJP leaders have been vocal about Kumar's alleged bias towards Trinamul and raised the matter with the full bench of the EC panel during its Bengal visit earlier this month.

Trinamul slammed this move, calling it another example of the BJP trying to grab institutions, including the EC. "They have taken over the control of central agencies and different organisations. In this case also, after the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections.... what we saw today is the reflection of the BJP,” said spokesperson Kunal Ghosh. "... The BJP may transfer a few officers but the public is with Trinamul and Mamata Banerjee. Trinamul will defeat BJP again.”

The Congress reacted to Kumar's transfer. "Kumar is a good police officer... (but) was transferred because he started working for the party (Trinamul)," said Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Bengal Congress president.

This is not the first time Kumar has transferred from his post by the poll panel.

In 2016, Kumar as the commissioner of Calcutta police was relieved of his post ahead of the Assembly polls. In 2019, Kumar was the additional DGP, CID, when he was removed before the general elections.

Sahay had come under the EC's scanner in March 2021 as Mamata alleged no cop was around when she was attacked by four-five men during her poll campaign in Nandigram. Sahay, then the director of the CM's security, was immediately suspended.

On Monday, the EC ordered the removal of some more senior officials across the country, including home secretaries of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the general administration secretaries of Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh, and Brihanmumbai municipal commissioner Iqbal Chahal.