West Bengal Assembly Election 2026: Hours after the announcement of assembly election dates in West Bengal, the Election Commission of India (ECI) removed state Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty and Home Secretary Jagdish Prasad Meena. Dushyant Nariyala has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary in place of Nandini Chakraborty, while Sangamitra Ghosh has been posted as the new Home Secretary. Additionally, the Commission also directly suspended seven AERO officials.

Know who got the responsibility

ECI said in a letter that 1993 batch IAS officer Dushyant Nariyala has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary of West Bengal. Whereas 1997 batch IAS officer Sangamitra Ghosh has been posted as the Principal Secretary of Home and Hill Affairs of West Bengal.

The Election Commission has directed that these orders should be implemented immediately and the report regarding the involvement of these officers should be sent by 3 pm on March 16 (Monday). The Commission also said that the officers who have been transferred will not be posted on any election-related post until the elections are completely completed.

Know what was the complaint

The ECI identified several issues during the SIR in the state, including cases of non-compliance by Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty over the past few months. This included the action of not registering an FIR against four election officials, two EROs and two AEROs. Apart from this, irregularities in the hearing of Basirhat BDO, delay by the state administration and transfer of three IAS officers were also included. Nandini Chakraborty was also issued summons by the ECI in February. On Sunday, ECI announced that West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. According to sources, the reason behind these new appointments is the review by ECI of the preparations for West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026.

BJP leader Dilip Ghosh gave a big statement

On the announcement of election dates in 5 states/UTs, BJP leader Dilip Ghosh said, “The Election Commission is confident that the elections will be held peacefully. We are also hopeful of peaceful elections because the Election Commission has been doing good work since the time of SIR. Whether the elections are held once or 10 times, we will fight and win but if the election process goes on for a long time, it leads to expenses and also puts pressure on the officers and employees. Because of the security arrangements, the elections last so long. If security is available then the elections are not so long. It will do. They (TMC) change the officials they don’t trust, but we want to change the entire government.”

Amid the preparations for the Vice Presidential election, the opposition coalition India organized a mock poll for its MPs today (September 8). This exercise will be held in the old Parliament House at 2:30 pm, in which all MPs have been instructed to join.

The purpose of this mock poll is to make MPs aware of the election process and to save them from any mistake during the actual voting. Earlier, NDA MPs also practiced in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At the same time, Rajya Sabha MP and Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut said that BJP does not have a majority.

Vote after listening to the voice of conscience- Sanjay Raut

Sanjay Raut says that yesterday there was a mock poll for the NDA, PM himself was also sitting in the mock poll, today we will be the opposition party mock poll, the MPs of the country also need mock poll, a good election is being held, and the thing is that BJP does not have a majority, Vice Presidential post is constitutional post and our candidate B.S. Sudrashan Reddy and our call is that these voting MPs should be for the national interest, should be to save the constitution, after listening to the voice of the country and our conscience, our MPs should vote.

VIDEO | Delhi: on the Vice-PRESIDENIAL Election, Shiv Sena (UBT) mp sanjay raut says, “… it’s a good election. The BJP does not have the majority. Elect to save the constitution, and mps must listen to their soul.… pic.twitter.com/ru22pnlq28

– Press Trust of India (@Pti_News) September 8, 2025

Former Vice President is still missing- Sanjay Raut

He said, “The way the condition of the country has been done, the former Vice President of the country is still missing today, it says that everything is not going well in democracy, which will show its spine, it will be disappeared, so the post of Vice President to come should also be careful.”

In this way, before the Vice Presidential elections, both the opposition and the ruling party have intensified the exercise to prepare their MPs. On the one hand, the NDA is busy showing majority, on the other hand the opposition is presenting it as a war of democracy and constitution. Now it has to be seen that in whose favor the final result goes and to what extent the MP listens to his conscience.