The legal battle over the mass transfer of IAS and IPS officers in West Bengal ahead of the Assembly elections has reached a critical stage. On Friday, the division bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Parthasarathi Sen concluded the hearing on a PIL challenging the Election Commission’s (EC) transfer orders but reserved the judgment.

Defending its actions, the EC’s counsel presented data showing that far more transfers were executed in other states like Uttar Pradesh (83) and Maharashtra (61) compared to only 23 in West Bengal. In contrast, Advocate Kalyan Banerjee, representing the petitioner, questioned why top officials of central agencies like the BSF and CISF were spared from such reshuffles. State Advocate General Kishore Dutta also contested whether the EC holds the constitutional mandate to unilaterally transfer high-ranking officials like the DGP. The High Court has directed the Commission to submit all relevant documents by Monday before delivering the final verdict.