Kolkata, March 17 The Election Commission ordered the transfer of 19 senior police officers, including two Additional Directors General (ADGs), in another reshuffle ahead of the state assembly elections.
IPS officer Rajesh Kumar Singh was appointed as the new Additional Director General (ADG) of South Bengal, while K Jayaraman was named the ADG of North Bengal. Both belonged to the 1997 batch, according to a statement.
New Commissioners of Police (CP) were appointed for Asansol-Durgapur, Howrah, Barrackpore, and Chandannagar.
Pranav Kumar was appointed the new CP of Asansol-Durgapur in Paschim Bardhaman, Akhilesh Kumar Chaturvedi was named the CP of Howrah, Amit Kumar Singh was named the new CP of Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas, and Sunil Kumar Yadav was appointed the CP of Chandannagar in the Hooghly district.
Superintendents of 12 districts were also changed in the latest reshuffle.
Puspa was appointed as the SP of Barasat, Jaspreet Singh of Cooch Behar, Surya Pratap Yadav of Birbhum, Kumar Sunny Rai of Hooghly Rural, Ishani Paul of Diamond Harbour, Sachin of Murshidabad, Alakananda Bhowal of Basirhat, Anupam Singh of Malda, Anshuman Saha of Purba Medinipur, and Surinder Singh of Jangipur.
Rakesh Singh was posted as the new SP of Islampur, and Papiya Sultana as SP of Paschim Medinipur.
YS Jagannathrao was made the DCP (Central) of the Kolkata Police.
"The Election Commission is committed to holding transparent, free of fear, violence-free, and inducement-free elections," an official said.
The EC directed immediate implementation of the order and sought compliance by 11 am on March 18, barring transferred officers from poll duty, according to the statement.
Following the announcement of the poll dates on Sunday, the EC transferred Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravorty and Home Secretary Jagdish Prasad Meena. It subsequently removed DGP Peeyush Pandey and Kolkata CP Supratim Sarkar.
The elections to the 294-member West Bengal assembly will be held in two phases, on April 23 and 29. Votes will be counted on May 4.
