A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court for the 'urgent' removal of IPS Ajay Pal Sharma as police observer from poll-bound Bengal's South 24 Parganas district.
The petition terms Sharma as 'highly partisan and acting contrary to the role prescribed to him.'
Sharma's deployment by the Election Commission kicked up another big row between the incumbent Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
While the BJP and the ECI said that Sharma has been deployed to ensure 'free and fair voting' in the state, the Trinamool Congress and also Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav claimed that the BJP is trying to tilt the vote in their favour by 'deploying agents' to intimidate voters.
Senior TMC leaders and ministers alleged that the IPS officer was overstepping his role.
Sharma, who has earned the moniker 'Singham' (daredevil) in Uttar Pradesh, said that he would not allow the candidate or his associates to intimidate the voters.
