In a viral video that has sparked outrage, Sharma — widely known as an “encounter specialist” and “Singham” of Uttar Pradesh — is seen arriving at the residence of a TMC candidate with Central Armed Police Force personnel in tow. Instead of a measured, administrative tone befitting an Election Observer, he delivers a blunt, threatening message to the candidate’s family: “Kayde se ilaaj kiya jayega… Don’t cry later.” This is not the language of oversight. This is the language of intimidation.Let us be clear. West Bengal has a long, unfortunate history of political violence, booth capturing, and voter intimidation.
No serious observer can deny that. Complaints of strong-arm tactics deserve prompt and firm response. But the remedy cannot be to send an officer whose public image is that of a trigger-happy enforcer from a ruling party in another state and then allow him to behave like a local goonda on election duty.
“If you continue with your badmashi, it will be dealt with properly… Don’t cry later.”— IPS Ajay Pal Sharma, Police Observer, West Bengal Assembly Elections
Ajay Pal Sharma’s entire reputation in Uttar Pradesh rests on a particular brand of muscular, encounter-oriented policing that thrived under the Yogi Adityanath regime. Whether or not one supports that style in law-and-order matters, it has no place in the delicate role of an Election Commission Observer. The Observer’s job is not to “fix” people or deliver street-style warnings. His job is to monitor, coordinate, and ensure that the local administration and police function impartially. When an officer with such a loaded image starts personally visiting candidates’ homes and issuing public threats, he stops looking like a neutral monitor and starts looking like a political instrument.
The optics are devastating. A police officer from a BJP-ruled state, with a well-known tough-guy persona, is seen aggressively targeting a TMC candidate in a high-stakes Bengal constituency. Is it any surprise that the opposition is crying foul? That Mahua Moitra, Akhilesh Yadav, and TMC leaders are questioning the Election Commission’s wisdom? When the referee starts behaving like one of the players’ enforcers, the entire game loses legitimacy in the eyes of the people.
Even more disturbing is the potential chilling effect on ordinary voters and candidates. If an Election Observer can speak in the language of “don’t cry later,” what message does it send to the average citizen who may have genuine grievances against any side? Does it create an atmosphere of fear rather than fairness? The very presence of such an officer in this manner risks turning the Election Commission’s effort to curb intimidation into a new form of perceived intimidation.
The Election Commission routinely sends officers from other states to sensitive zones — and that practice itself is often necessary. But discretion and good sense must guide whom they choose and how they are allowed to conduct themselves. Appointing someone whose career is defined by a particular political regime’s policing style, and then letting him operate with such swagger, was avoidable and unwise.
Democracy does not require soft policing. It requires impartial policing. It requires observers who command respect through fairness, not fear through theatrics. The video of Ajay Pal Sharma does not inspire confidence that the Election Commission is rising above politics. Instead, it reinforces the dangerous perception that even the constitutional institutions meant to safeguard the electoral process are becoming battlegrounds for political signalling.
The Commission must reflect on this. Neutrality is not just a procedural requirement — it is the soul of credible elections. When that neutrality is compromised in perception, if not in reality, the damage is done not just to one party or one election, but to public faith in Indian democracy itself.
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