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New Delhi, October 28 (IANS) Assembly elections are expected to be held in West Bengal by May-June next year, so every step taken by Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress President Mamata Banerjee will be under public scrutiny. Thus, the massive bureaucratic reshuffle carried out by his government hours before the Election Commission announced the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the country is suspected to be linked to the upcoming elections.
The ongoing organizational reshuffle is being seen as a step to strengthen the party which has been facing allegations of corruption, indiscipline and infighting after being in power for a long time – which has sometimes led to physical altercations.
Hundreds of officers have been transferred or reassigned to several districts in administrative orders, which the government described as routine and claimed that many of them had completed three years on their postings, hence the need to transfer them.
Technically, this is an ideal to prevent any one official from becoming a long-term local power broker. But in this case, the decision is being perceived in some quarters as a redeployment of key officials to place administrators with proven loyalty, competence or accountability in key districts before the SIR process begins.
Trinamool leaders have publicly criticized the Election Commission’s decision to conduct SIR in West Bengal, arguing that the practice risks unfairly removing legitimate voters and could be used to target specific communities for political gain.
He described the process as “politically motivated” and warned of protests if legitimate voters were removed. He questioned the fairness of the process and linked the timing of the exercise to the rising political stakes ahead of the 2026 assembly elections.
However, the election body clarified that as per law, the electoral roll must be revised before every election or as per the requirement, where the SIR has been done eight times from 1951 to 2004, and the last time was two decades ago in 2002–2004.
Certain changes, such as registration of voters at more than one place as a result of repeated migration, names of deceased, fraudulent entry of foreign nationals, among others, cannot be made in the voter list in the normal vetting process. Such an exercise requires door-to-door visits at the booth level.
Reports – both administrative and media – have shown demographic changes in West Bengal, especially in districts bordering Bangladesh, due to decades of infiltration through open borders and alleged political collusion.
Economic dominance and population growth among Muslims is reportedly changing local life, leading to increasing tensions, as reflected in the violence in Murshidabad this year over the Waqf Amendment Bill.
Ruling party leaders publicly claim their complete dominance in such areas, with election results indicating this trend. There have been reports that some immigrants have voter ID cards and are participating in the voting process without citizenship status. Such voters can be identified through the process of SIR; However, ground level surveillance or deliberate interference cannot be completely ruled out.
Meanwhile, in recent months, Trinamool has made sweeping organizational changes at the district level to strike a balance between experienced leaders and emerging young leaders.
The reshuffle is aimed at reducing factionalism, imposing tighter controls and future-proofing the party machinery to secure a fourth term in power.
There also appears to be an effort at a strategic recalibration from the “old versus new” debate to a mix of prominent long-term personalities with younger faces in organizational committees and future election candidate lists.
Efforts included restructuring of district chairmen, sometimes even eliminating them, in favor of smaller, elected core committees. For example, in Birbhum, Kolkata North, district-level leadership has been transferred from a single strongman to collective committees.
The party’s recent organizational moves can be seen as a strategy to take control, reduce factionalism and improve candidate quality – expected to influence the party’s decision while considering tickets for the 2026 assembly elections.
–IANS
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