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Kolkata: A senior election observer was removed from his post after he allegedly challenged Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar during a high-level review meeting on Wednesday, April 8, ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections.

A full bench of the Election Commission (EC) was gathered for the virtual meeting when the Cooch Behar South constituency general observer, Anurag Yadav, openly objected to the CEC’s alleged remarks about the former not having enough info on the constituency he is responsible for.

Kumar allegedly told Yadav to “go back home.” Yadav retorted, “You can’t treat us like this. We have given 25 years to the service. You can’t speak like this,” the Times of India reported.

There was a brief moment of silence before the meeting continued discussions on other topics. The EC, however, swiftly removed Yadav as the general observer.

The Election Commission maintained that Yadav was removed for his “professional incompetence” and not due to his rebellious act. The officials had asked Yadav general questions about the number of polling booths in his constituency, but he failed to provide accurate details. His lack of knowledge had reportedly drawn criticism from Kumar.

“An observer is the eyes and ears of the Commission. If an officer, after spending several days on the ground, cannot verify basic details like the number of polling stations, it raises serious questions about the integrity of the process,” senior EC official told TOI.

An election observer is nominated by the commission to supervise the conduct of the elections in a constituency. They can be a government officer. Yadav is a 2000 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre.

Cooch Behar Trinamool president Abhijit De Bhowmik reacted to the incident and said Yadav’s remarks “show that a section of IAS officers is not ready to comply with the EC’s illogical directives.”