India, Jan. 30 -- The West Bengal government has requested the Election Commission of India (EC) to exclude nine Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and eight Indian Police Service (IPS) officers of the state cadre from the list of observers to other states, where assembly elections are due this year.

The request on Thursday came a day after the EC1 named 15 IAS and 10 IPS of West Bengal cadre officers, including state home secretary Jagdish Prasad Meena and Howrah police commissioner Pravin Kumar Tripathi, as poll observers.

"A letter has been sent to the ECI requesting the names of at least nine IAS officers and eight IPS officers to be dropped from the list of observers," said a Bengal government official.

Assembly elections are due...