Bhubaneswar: To bolster oversight for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has appointed Odisha-cadre IPS officer M Saravana Vivek as its police observer.
“In exercise of the powers conferred on it by Article 324 of the Constitution of India and Section 20B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the Election Commission hereby appoints you as its Police Observer for the General Elections to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal, 2026,” the notification stated.
The 2015-batch officer will monitor police-related arrangements and security during the two-phase polls scheduled for April 23 and April 29, with vote counting on May 4. He will be stationed at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Kolkata. He will report to the EC till the end of the poll process.
This appointment is part of the ECI’s broader strategy to ensure free, fair, and peaceful elections in the politically sensitive state.
The IPS officer is serving as Berhampur SP along with additional charge of SP, Gajapati, following the retirement of Jatindra Kumar Panda. He is an alumnus of Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute (MGMC&RI) Pondicherry and hails from Tamil Nadu.
Incidentally, Saravana was among the six IPS officers who were transferred to non-election related posts following an ECI order on April 2, 2024, ahead of the simultaneous Lok Sabha and State assembly polls in Odisha.