EC Orders Transfer of West Bengal DGP Virendra Ahead of Polls

The EC has appointed P Nirajnayan as Virendra’s replacement, effective immediately.

The Election Commission ordered the transfer of West Bengal Director General of Police Virendra on Tuesday, 9 March. Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Bankura District Police)

The Election Commission ordered the transfer of West Bengal Director General of Police Virendra on Tuesday, 9 March, and appointed P Nirajnayan as his replacement, effective immediately.

P Nirajnayan, from the IPS batch of 1987, would take on the role of Director General and Inspector General of Police, and the directive ordered the commission to be informed, latest by 10 am on Wednesday.

The order issued by the EC to the West Bengal chief secretary says that Virendra, IPS batch of 1985, “should not be given any post which directly or indirectly relates to conduct of election.”

This order comes after several allegations by political parties, especially the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), claiming that Virendra had a bias for CM Mamata Banerjee’s party, the Trinamool Congress.

Recently, Javed Shamim was also transferred by the EC on 27 February from Additional Director General (Law and Order) to the Director General of Fire Services. Jag Mohan, whose role he replaced in Fire Services, took over Shamim’s profile as ADG (Law and order).

West Bengal Assembly Polls

The West Bengal Assembly election will be held from 27 March to 29 April in eight phases, following which the results will be declared on 2 May.

This makes it the longest-ever polling in the state so far, seemingly based on “assessments of law and order”, according to the Election Commission of India (EC)‘s Sunil Arora.

The EC has appointed two special observers for the West Bengal polls according to Arora, who added that a third observer can be sent when needed depending on the security situation.