Rajesh Pandey appointed new ACEO of West Bengal

The Election Commission has appointed Rajesh Pandey as West Bengal's additional chief electoral officer, an official said here Thursday.

Pandey is slated to take charge within the next two to three days.

"The post had been lying vacant... it is a normal process.. this is nothing special for the elections," joint CEO Saibal Barman told IANS.

However, there was speculation that Barman was appointed following regular complaints by the opposition that CEO Sunil Gupta was dilly-dallying in redressing their grievances.

Deputy Election Commissioner Vinod Zutshi, who came here to oversee poll preparations late last month, had reportedly ticked off district and police administrations for sitting over complains amde by opposition parties.

The full bench of the Election Commission is slated to arrive April 5 for taking an overview of the poll preparations. The first phase of polling in the state is slated to take place April 17.