Kolkata, March 18: The Election Commission of India (ECI), on Wednesday, ordered the transfer of five more Indian Police Service officers, in the ranks of Deputy Inspector General (DIG), and all in charge of specific ranges under a division in West Bengal. As per a notification issued by the ECI, Amit Kumar Bharat Rathod will be the new DIG of Raiganj Range, replacing Santosh Uttamrao Nimbalkar.
Ajeet Singh Yadav will be the new DIG of the sensitive Murshidabad Range. Yadav replaced Sudheer Kumar Neelakantam. Srihari Pandey has been appointed as the new DIG of Burdwan Range. He replaced Alok Rajoria. Kankar Prasad Barui is the new DIG of Presidency Range and replaces Bhaskar Mukherjee.
Finally, Anjali Singh has been appointed as the new DIG of Jalpaiguri Range, replacing Dr Bholanath Pandey. On Tuesday, the ECI ordered the transfer of 19 senior police officers in West Bengal, in the run-up to the two-phase Assembly polls. The 19 policemen, who were transferred, included two Additional Director Generals (ADGs), four Commissioners of Police, 12 Superintendents of Police (SPs), and a Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police. On Monday, the ECI removed the Acting Director General of Police, Peeyush Pandey, Kolkata Police Commissioner Supratim Sarkar, and the Director General, Law & Order, Vineet Goyal.
While Siddh Nath Gupta replaced Pandey, Ajay Kumar Nand took the place of Sarkar. Ajay Mukund Ranade succeeded Goyal. Earlier, on Sunday night, hours after the two-phase Assembly elections in West Bengal were announced, the ECI removed Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty and Home Secretary Jagdish Prasad Meena.
While Dushyant Nariala replaced Chakraborty, Shanghamitra Ghosh replaced Meena. The two-phase polls in West Bengal will be conducted on April 23 and April 29. In the first phase, elections will be conducted for 152 Assembly constituencies, and in the second phase, polling will be held for 142 constituencies.
IANS
