West Bengal polls: Police observer replaced in Nandigram

The Election Commission on Tuesday replaced the police observer for Nandigram Assembly constituency in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district, just two days ahead of polling, a senior official said.

Hitesh Choudhury, the police observer for the seat, was replaced by Akhilesh Kumar Singh. An IPS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, Singh was inducted as a DIG in the CBI in 2019 and has handled several high-profile investigations in West Bengal, including the Narada scam, cow smuggling cases, and the 2021 post-poll violence.

The move came a day after the TMC raised allegations of bias against the Officer-in-Charge of the Nandigram Police Station. In a letter to the police observer on Monday, the TMC alleged that complaints against BJP members were not being acted upon. —PTI