West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addressed the media in Kolkata on Tuesday. | Photo credit: ANI
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday (March 19, 2026) expressed concern over the “arbitrary removal of more than 50 senior officials” and said the transfers were “political interference of the highest order”.
Watch live updates of assembly polls on 19 March 2026
Since announcing the dates for the West Bengal assembly elections, the Election Commission has transferred several key officials of the state, including its chief secretary, home minister and director general of police, among others.
“More than 50 senior officials including the Chief Secretary, Home Minister, DGP, ADG, IG, DIG, District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police were summarily and arbitrarily removed even before the election was formally announced. This is not an administrative measure, rather it is political interference of the highest order,” the Trinamool Congress president said.
Ms Banerjee, who is seeking a fourth consecutive term, described the move as a “systematic politicization of institutions that are supposed to remain impartial and a direct attack on the Constitution”.
Ms. Banerjee, who alleged that the panel’s proceedings were inconsistent, said the officers relieved of their duties were assigned as election observers. “This is not governance. It reflects chaos, confusion and sheer incompetence masquerading as authority,” she said in a statement on social media.
‘Intentional Design’
Ms Banerjee said the transfers were not random but “a deliberate design to dominate West Bengal through coercion and institutional manipulation”.
On Tuesday (March 17, 2026), while announcing her party’s list of candidates for the upcoming parliamentary polls, she opposed the transfer, saying the Commission would “campaign for the BJP”. Ms Banerjee said on Thursday that what the people of West Bengal were witnessing was “nothing less than an undeclared emergency and an undeclared form of President’s rule driven by political vendetta and not democratic principles”.
The chief minister said that the trust of the people of Bengal had failed and “BJP is now trying to rule the state through coercion, intimidation, manipulation and abuse of institutions”.
She expressed her support and solidarity to all the officials of the Government of West Bengal and their families who are being targeted only for serving the state with honor and devotion.
“Bengal has never bowed to intimidation and will never back down. Bengal will fight, Bengal will resist and Bengal will definitely defeat any attempt to impose a divisive and destructive agenda on its soil,” Ms Banerjee said.
The West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29 and the votes will be counted on May 4.
Published – 19 March 2026 16:51 IST
