Election Commission appoints 24 observers to scan West Bengal police machinery

KOLKATA: The Election Commission of India has deployed 24 police observers to monitor the state police machinery during elections to West Bengal’s 42 constituencies. It is the largest such deployment in Bengal so far. The appointment soon ran into trouble after chief minister Mamata Banerjee objected to the neutrality of one of the observers — retired BSF director general KK Sharma — who, she alleged, attended an RSS programme a year ago.

The CPM too complained against the appointment. By the end of the day, EC replaced Sharma with Vivek Dubey, a 1981 batch IPS officer.

A senior state police official told ET that the decision of appointing so many police observers was new. “It has been done after surveying the nature of the state. West Bengal has always been a politically-sensitive state and it has a history of poll violence,” the official added.


A senior EC official added: “In every state, police observers are deployed. According to rough estimates of appointment, a police observer will supervise two constituencies. This is not unique to Bengal. In some places, the number of officers can be lesser, depending on the political situation.”

According to the EC website, Bihar has more than 20 police observers and Uttar Pradesh more than 40. All three states have seven phases of voting.