Mamata’s Police Overhaul: 40+ Top IPS Officers Shuffled, 10 Districts Get New Chiefs Overnight

In one of the largest police reshuffles in recent West Bengal history, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee , who holds the Home portfolio , late Thursday night ordered the transfer of over 40 senior IPS officers, including at least 10 district Superintendents of Police and several key intelligence and commissionerate posts, said a report by The Indian Express. The move comes just months before the 2026 Assembly elections and while the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is underway across the state.Nabanna insiders called it a “routine administrative exercise,” but the scale, timing, and choice of districts tell a different story.The Key Shifts: Who's In, Who's OutThe Home and Hill Affairs Department notified the changes, focusing

on district leadership and intelligence wings. Here's the rundown of major moves:

• Jhargram: SP Arijit Sinha → DIG, Midnapore Range; New SP: Manav Singla (from Cooch Behar). (Jhargram's tribal unrest makes this a hotspot.)
• Bankura: SP Vaibhav Tiwari → SP Purulia.
• Purulia: SP Avijit Banerjee → SP Malda.
• Malda: SP Pradeep Kumar Yadav (tenure marred by TMC leader killings like Dulalchandra 'Babla' Sarkar and today's Ekramul Sheikh slaying, plus Manikchak firing row) → SP Traffic, Uttar Dinajpur.
• Jalpaiguri & Alipurduar: SPs Y Raghuwamshi and Khandbahale Umesh Ganpat swapped.
• Raiganj: SP Md Sana Akhtar → DC West Zone, Asansol-Durgapur Commissionerate; New SP: Sonawane Kuldip Suresh (earlier posting reinstated).
• Intelligence Bureau (WB): Senior Superintendent Sachin → DC New Town, Bidhannagar PC; New: Dhritiman Sarkar (from SP Paschim Medinipur).
• Purba Medinipur: SP Soumyadip Bhattacharya → SP Bankura; Additional SP (Sadar) Nikhil Agarwal transferred, no replacements named yet, leaving Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari's stronghold without top brass.
• Other Notables: Palash Chandra Dhali → SP Paschim Medinipur (from Baruipur PD); Shubhendra Kumar → SP Baruipur PD (from Addl SP Rural, Purba Medinipur).

West Bengal Police Service (WBPS) officers weren't spared: Siddharth Dorji → Addl SP Lalbagh, Murshidabad; Soutam Banerjee → Addl SP Paschim Medinipur.The Big Vacuum: Purba MedinipurSuvendu Adhikari’s stronghold now has no SP and no Additional SP (Sadar). Both Soumyadip Bhattacharya and Nikhil Agarwal have been transferred, and no replacements announced , an unprecedented leadership gap in a politically hyper-sensitive coastal district.Why Now? Elections, SIR, and Simmering Tensions

• Malda: Multiple TMC leaders murdered in 2025; Pradeep Yadav’s exit seen as damage control
• Jhargram & Bankura: Ongoing Maoist pockets and tribal belt politics
• Asansol-Durgapur & Raiganj: Industrial unrest + communal flashpoints
• SIR of voter list: Booth-level officers under scrutiny; police play a key role

The reshuffle lands amid the SIR drive, Election Commission's voter list purge starting December 20, which BJP calls a "TMC ploy to delete opposition names." Districts like Malda (recent killings) and Purba Medinipur (Adhikari turf, Waqf violence echoes) are flashpoints. Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari slammed it as "pre-poll cleansing," while BJP's Sukanta Majumdar alleged "transfer of honest cops who won't rig votes."TMC counters: "Purely merit-based, nothing political." But with 2026 polls on the horizon, the optics are tough, especially after EC's 2021 transfers of 50+ officers. This is the third big IPS churn since Banerjee's 2021 re-election, per records.Follow-Up to Last Week’s 175 Inspector TransfersThis is the second massive police shake-up in eight days. Last week, 175 inspectors were moved , mostly from rural and semi-urban stations. The twin exercises have effectively reset the entire field-level policing structure ahead of elections.With the Election Commission already watching Bengal closely, Thursday night’s notification is set to dominate political discourse for weeks. For now, ten districts woke up to new police chiefs , and one district woke up to none.