The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday removed former director general of the Border Security Force (BSF), KK Sharma, as special police observer for West Bengal and Jharkhand.
The order – which replaced Sharma with Vivek Dube, a former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of 1981 batch – came less than a day after Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee sought Sharma’s removal.
The EC, in its order, said that Sharma will now be assigned the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It however, did not give any reasons for doing the same.
“Election Commission of India has nominated Vivek Dube (IPS AP 1981 Retd) as the Central Police Observer for the States of West Bengal and Jharkhand during General Elections 2019. K K Sharma (IPS 1982 Retd DG Border Security Force) who was earlier nominated for these States has now been assigned the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana instead,” read a press release from the EC.
The press statement added that these Observers would oversee the deployment and other security related issues in the respective states.
Earlier, the Bengal CM alleged that Sharma had attended an RSS meet in uniform in the presence of Rantideb Sengupta, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Lok Sabha candidate from Howrah. “How can we expect neutrality from this officer?” she said. Banerjee also showed the media a photograph purportedly showing Sharma attending the event.
“A man who attended a meeting of RSS in uniform has been appointed as special observer for West Bengal and Jharkhand! I respect his khaki uniform. It should be used for the safety of people. He forgot everything… We will write a strong letter to the ECI and seek his removal,” she said.
Rantideb Sengupta said he saw no reason for stirring a controversy over the RSS event. “The RSS is not a political organisation. It was a social event. I was there as an RSS member but he (Sharma) went there to support the cause the organisation espouses,” Sengupta said.
Sharma was not available for comment.
On Tuesday, the poll panel appointed Sharma, a 1982-batch IPS officer, as Special Central Police Observer for West Bengal and Jharkhand to oversee the deployment of security forces and other security related issues in the two states.