Kolkata (28.10.2025): The West Bengal government transferred as many as 527 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS) officials ahead of the rollout of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of electoral rolls in the state from November 4, 2025.

Even though the lists were released on Monday, the notifications of the transfers were issued on October 24. The list of transferred officials includes district magistrates of North 24 Parganas, Hooghly, Dakshin Dinajpur, Kalimpong, West Midnapore, South 24 Parganas, Cooch Behar, Murshidabad, Purulia, Darjeeling, Malda, Birbhum, Jhargram and East Midnapore.

It also included Kolkata Municipal Corporation commissioner Dhaval Jain; UR Ismail, special secretary in state health department; Raju Mishra, special secretary in state industry and commerce department; and Shashank Sethi, managing director of West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation.

The reshuffle has triggered a political storm in the state, with state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders alleging the move was planned to disrupt the SIR exercise. The TMC, however, hit back saying that it was a routine transfer and the TMC doesn’t depend on bureaucrats to win an election.