ECI’s transfer of Bengal officials is political interference of the highest order, says Mamata

Expressing alarm over “arbitrary removal of more than 50 senior officials,” West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday (March 19, 2026) said that the transfers were “political interference of the highest order”.

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Since the announcement of dates of Assembly elections in West Bengal, the Election Commission has transferred several key officials of the State, including its Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and Director-General of Police, among others.

“Even before the formal notification of elections, more than 50 senior officials including the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, DGP, ADGs, IGs, DIGs, District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police have been summarily and arbitrarily removed. This is not administrative action rather this is political interference of the highest order,” the Trinamool Congress chairperson said.

Ms. Banerjee, who is aiming for a fourth consecutive term in office, described the move as a “systematic politicisation of institutions meant to remain impartial, and a direct assault on the Constitution”.

Claiming contradictions in the poll panel’s actions, Ms. Banerjee said officers removed from their posts were being assigned as election observers. “This is not governance. It reflects chaos, confusion, and sheer incompetence being passed off as authority,” she said in a statement on social media.

‘Deliberate design’

Ms. Banerjee said that the transfers were not incidental, but “a deliberate design to seize control of West Bengal through coercion and institutional manipulation”.

On Tuesday (March 17, 2026), while announcing the list of candidates of her party for the upcoming Assembly polls, she had opposed the transfer and said that the Commission should “ campaign for the BJP”. On Thursday, Ms. Banerjee said that what people of West Bengal were witnessing was” nothing short of an undeclared emergency and an unpromulgated form of President’s rule driven by political vendetta, not democratic principles.”

The Chief Minister said that having failed to win the trust of Bengal’s people, “the BJP is now attempting to capture the State through coercion, intimidation, manipulation, and the misuse of institutions.”

She expressed support and solidarity to the every officer of the West Bengal government and their families, who are being targeted simply for serving the State with honesty and commitment.

“Bengal has never bowed to intimidation and it never will. Bengal will fight, Bengal will resist and Bengal will decisively defeat every attempt to impose a divisive and destructive agenda on its soil,” Ms. Banerjee said.

Elections to West Bengal Assembly will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29 and votes will be counted on May 4.