After it announced dates & schedule for West Bengal election which are spread over eight phases starting on March 27, Election Commission replaced the top cop in charge of law and order for the state.

Jawed Shamim, Additional Director-General (Law & Order) of Bengal Police, effectively second only to the Director-General of Police, was shunted to head the fire services department. Jag Mohan, who was Director-General (Fire Services), has replaced Mr. Shamim.

“Both are very good officers but we sense a political motive could be behind the move,” Trinamool MP Saugata Roy said.

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The reshuffle came hours after a team of BJP leaders met the Chief Electoral Officer in Kolkata to allege that Trinamool (TMC) cadres had broken into a godown and vandalized several vehicles assigned by the BJP to travel all over Bengal as part of a campaign launched by party chief JP Nadda.

BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta said that they had also complained about a set of police officers in Bengal who were not cooperating with BJP, which hints at the political motive behind the move on the police officers.

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“We have asked the Kolkata Police Commissioner for an appointment but he has still not found time to meet us,” Mr. Dasgupta said.

On Friday the Election Commission said that West Bengal Assembly polls would be spread over eight phases because of concerns regarding electoral violence. The poll body, however, declined to say why voting had been stretched out, but suggested that security played a role in the matter.

“We avoid taking names of political parties. We had an assessment of law and order on several factors. Last time it was seven phases, so eight is not a big deal,” outgoing Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who pointed out that Tamil Nadu (which has a similar number of seats) would vote in one phase, has questioned the move.

The results of the Bengal election will be declared on May 2.