Trinamool claims that police observer appointed in West Bengal’s Malda is husband of BJP leader

The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday (March 24, 2026) claimed that the police observer appointed by Election Commission of India to Malda district is the husband of a Bhatariya Janata Party leader from Bihar.

Senior Trinamool Congress leaders Bratya Basu and Partha Bhowmick held a press conference at the party headquarters on Tuesday (March 24, 2026) and made public photographs of Jayant Kant, the police observer in charge of four constituencies in Malda with a lady, claiming that the lady is the officer’s wife. The Trinamool leaders said that the wife was a BJP leader and hailed from Bihar. They also published photos of the woman with Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Samrat Chowdhury. The Hindu has not verified the claims made by the Trinamool Congress.

“Mr. Vanish Kumar [referring to CEC Gyanesh Kumar] has crossed every remaining line of decency and neutrality. He has now appointed the husband of a senior Bihar BJP leader as Police Observer in Malda. Jayant Kant, husband of an active, card-holding BJP leader from Bihar, has been handpicked and dispatched as Police Observer,” The Trinamool Congress posted on social media.

Calling the development as a” shameless act”, the West Bengal’s ruling party has claimed that “can anyone in India still pretend that @ECISVEEP is functioning as an independent constitutional body?”.

The development came on the day when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee raised ethical concerns over a letter by the ECI bearing the BJP symbol that surfaced in Kerala, claiming that “the cat is out of the bag”.

ECI has appointed 84 police observers in the state for the upcoming West Bengal assembly election. The Trinamool Congress had described the appointment of the police observes as a “calculated scheme” to “encircle and intimidate Bengal by deploying police cadres from 22 other states, with officers from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh prominently at the helm”.

“By dispatching an unprecedented 84 police observers, the highest number assigned to any of the poll-bound states, the Commission seeks to instill fear among the people of Bengal,” the Trinamool Congress had said.

Since the start of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress has targeted the ECI and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The Trinamool claims that the ECI is working to provide an advantage to the BJP by deleting names of eligible voters through the SIR. The West Bengal’s ruling party has objected to transfer of over 50 senior officials from the State by the ECI, including State’s Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and Director General of Police.