38 hours before polling, EC transfers Cooch Behar SP

KOLKATA: The Election Commission removed Cooch Behar superintendent of police Abhishek Gupta on Tuesday, its decision coming just 38 hours before the constituency goes to vote and less than a week after similar transfers of four senior Bengal police officers, including the commissioners of Kolkata and Bidhannagar Police.
Gupta will hand over charge to Amit Kumar Singh, a special superintendent in the State Intelligence Branch.The EC order to state chief secretary Malay De asked for a compliance report by day-end on Tuesday.
Last week’s transfers had invited strident criticism from Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, prompting the EC to throw the rule-book at the state government. The latest one, too, drew a sharp reaction from Trinamool Congress, which dubbed the move as motivated and biased. In a three-page letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, the party’s Rajya Sabha MP, Derek O Brien, said: “It is amply clear that such order of transfer has been passed at the behest of BJP.” He referred to the Prime Minister’s April 7 rally at Cooch Behar, where BJP leader Mukul Roy had claimed that SP Abhishek Gupta would be robbed of his uniform. “This compels us to question the bona fides of the decision,” the MP said.
The letter also points out that Gupta’s replacement, Amit Kumar Singh, had been deputed by the state as police observer for Bihar and bringing him back as SP just a few hours before the polls shows the EC does not want proper conduct of the polls.
It also alleges that Singh doesn’t have the experience to be SP Cooch Behar for his lack of knowledge of the area and its people.
The EC decision coincided with the realisation that it would not be able to deploy central forces in all the 3,844 polling booths in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar. Central forces will be deployed in only the “critical” 1,067 booths; the rest will be deployed for patrolling and guarding strong rooms. This means that 766 (or only 20%) polling premises will be manned by central forces.
The BJP has been demanding central forces be deployed in every polling booth. The state BJP also lodged a formal complaint with the EC against the Cooch Behar district administration. State BJP chief election strategist Mukul Roy has also been vocal on this issue.
Officials said the police observer tasked to monitor the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha constituency had, in his report, cited “non-cooperation” by the district administration. Several other officers may also be under scanner, officials added. The order signed by EC under-secretary Amit Kumar says the decision followed an EC review of the poll preparedness.