India, April 29 -- A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court for 'urgent' removal of IPS Ajay Pal Sharma as police observer from poll-bound Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, HT has learnt.

Sharma's role in several key security operations during his postings across Uttar Pradesh earned him the reputation of "encounter specialist".

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 "d...