Bengal polls: EC transfers block official in Falta ahead of second phase
· Scroll
The Election Commission on Tuesday transferred the joint block development officer of Falta in South 24 Parganas district, a day ahead of the second phase of Assembly polls in West Bengal, PTI reported.
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The officer, Sourav Hazra, was transferred to Purulia, where polling concluded on April 23. In Falta, he was replaced by Ramya Bhattacharya.
No reason for the transfer was cited in the Election Commission’s orders, PTI reported. The news agency quoted an unidentified official of the poll panel as saying that it was a routine transfer.
However, Hazra’s transfer came following allegations that he had not cooperated with Ajay Pal Sharma, a special police observer appointed by the Election Commission, the news agency reported.
Workers of the Trinamool Congress protested against Sharma on Monday after videos of him going to the home of the party’s Falta candidate Jahangir Khan were widely shared on social media. The action, reported by some news organisations as a search operation, was carried out after complaints were allegedly raised that Khan was intimidating voters.
Sharma is a deputy inspector general of police in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj.
On Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party posted a video on social media showing Sharma purportedly “reading the riot act” to Khan’s family.
“Listen carefully: if there is any mischief, the ‘treatment’ will be such that crying later won’t help,” Sharma can be...