Election Commission replaces police chief Virendra with P. Nirajnayan

The state had 50,000 pending warrants and the police administration could execute only 17,000 of them till last week

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Special Correspondent   |   TT   |   Calcutta   |  10.03.21 :  The Election Commission has replaced director general (police) Virendra with P. Nirajnayan, a 1987-batch IPS officer currently posted as director general (administration) — the most significant rejig after the Bengal poll dates were announced.

The order, issued by Rakesh Kumar, secretary of the poll panel, directed the chief secretary to execute the order “immediately” and send a compliance report by 10am on Wednesday. It also mentioned that the change was made after “reviewing the situation of poll preparedness” in the state on Tuesday.

The Election Commission has said in its order that Virendra could not be sent to any post that involves any poll-related responsibility.

Within 24 hours of the announcement of the election dates, the Election Commission had replaced Jawed Shamim, additional director general (law and order), with Jag Mohan.

While it was still not clear why the DGP was transferred, a section of officials at Nabanna said the poll panel had acted on the basis of a series of complaints lodged by the BJP against Virendra over the last few days.

“A delegation of the BJP had met the DGP a few days ago apprehending that postal ballots to be issued for police personnel could be misused under the direct involvement of police bosses. The BJP had lodged complaints with the EC that no step had been initiated in this regard even after the DGP had been informed in this regard,” said a source.

A section of the officials also said the Election Commission was not satisfied with Virendra as the poll panel identified a series of flaws by the police administration ahead of the elections.

First, the Election Commission had expressed its dissatisfaction with the non-execution of pending warrants in the state.

The state had 50,000 pending warrants and the police administration could execute only 17,000 of them till last week.

Second, the poll panel was apparently not happy with the police administration’s lack of interest in identifying the vulnerable areas in the state. Sudeep Jain, the deputy election commissioner, had pulled up the state administration for its lackadaisical attitude in identifying vulnerable areas properly.

Third, the EC was unhappy with the state police as the bosses in the districts did not visit temporary structures — where polling stations would be set up in the backdrop of Covid-19 pandemic — till the last week of February.

The Election Commission was unhappy because the total security arrangement plan could not be finalised until the police submits reports.

“These might have triggered the change at the helm of the state’s police administration. The complaints by the BJP could have also played a role behind the change,” said a senior official.

Nirajnayan, who would take over the charge early on Wednesday morning, is known to be an upright officer. He had worked in the CBI for years.

He had earlier worked as the secretary in the home department in Bengal but he was transferred from the important post apparently after he had advised the state not to file “a politically motivated case” in the Supreme Court.