‘Don’t speak to me like that’: IAS officer clashes with Gyanesh Kumar, ECI sacks him mid-meet

What began as a standard Election Commission review meeting has now snowballed into a full-blown political controversy ahead of the West Bengal polls.

Anurag Yadav, a senior Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer, was abruptly removed as observer for Cooch Behar South, right in the middle of a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The official trigger? Yadav allegedly failed to immediately answer a basic question: the number of polling booths under his jurisdiction. But insiders suggest the real flashpoint was far more explosive.

Sources claim the situation escalated when the CEC reportedly remarked, “You don’t even know such basic information!”, a comment that did not go down well with the seasoned bureaucrat.

In a rare show of defiance, Yadav is said to have hit back: “I’ve been in this profession for 25 years. You cannot speak to me like that.” The room reportedly fell silent.

Moments later, without further debate, Yadav was removed from his post, sending a strong and immediate message across the administrative ranks.

While the Election Commission’s camp is framing the move as a zero-tolerance stance on negligence, not everyone is buying that narrative.

Sections within the administration believe the punishment appears disproportionate, especially given the complexity of election duties and the fact that Yadav is an out-of-state officer still acclimatising to Bengal’s ground realities. And then came the political twist.

TMC backs sacked IAS, alleges intimidation

Trinamool Congress candidate Abhijit De Bhowmik openly backed the removed officer, turning the bureaucratic flashpoint into a political slugfest. “He showed courage. IAS officers are being intimidated.

Not everyone is working to ensure BJP’s victory,” he claimed, raising serious questions about alleged pressure within the system.

The BJP camp, however, has remained largely silent so far, even as the controversy feeds into the larger narrative war ahead of the polls.

Was this a case of administrative discipline or a crackdown on dissent? With elections around the corner, this high-voltage face-off has added yet another layer of tension to an already charged political atmosphere in Bengal.