EC raps Bengal for police reshuffle without its permission

The Election Commission today hit out at the West Bengal government for not taking its prior approval before undertaking a police reshuffle prior to the February 23 by-election to three Assembly constituencies in the state. The Election Commission has given "post-facto approval to the transfer of ADG (Law and Order) S Purkayastha as the city police commissioner and asked the state government to be careful in future", Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Gupta told reporters here. He said that state Home Secretary Basudeb Banerjee had written a letter to the Election Commission admitting "lapse on the part of the state government in not seeking prior approval of the EC with regard to the transfer of the ADG (law and order) and other appointments before the Assembly by-poll". The CEO quoted the letter to say that the state government had stated that it had no intention to bypass the Election Commission. (MORE)