Kolkata: The EC on Saturday relieved the observer for the Chinsurah seat in Hooghly, C Paulrasu, an IAS officer of the 2004 batch, and asked him to leave the constituency and Bengal immediately.Another IAS officer, Rajesh Kumar Sharma, who is a general observer in Hooghly, was asked to take charge of Chinsurah.Earlier, the EC removed the observer of the Cooch Behar South assembly seat, Anurag Yadav, as he failed to satisfy the queries of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar during a virtual meeting.Trinamool candidate Kunal Ghosh posted that Paulrasu, a horticulture secretary of HP, had stated in the observer’s WhatsApp group that the CEO has no authority to convene meetings with or direct the observers, as they are appointed by the EC. This was allegedly the reason for his removal. Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal countered that he was going to Asansol to hold a meeting with observers and that he had the authority to hold such meetings. TNN
