Who Is IPS Officer Ajay Pal Sharma? UP's Encounter Specialist Now West Bengal Poll Observer Under Scanner Over Viral Video Warning TMC Candidate

Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre, Ajay Pal Sharma, has been appointed as an election observer for the West Bengal Assembly elections ahead of the second phase of voting.

Since his deployment, Ajay Pal Sharma has been actively involved. He has been regularly visiting sensitive areas and monitoring security arrangements. Meanwhile, upon receiving a complaint of intimidation by supporters of Trinamool Congress leader and candidate Jahangir Khan, he arrived at the scene with security forces.

In a video shard by BJP West Bengal on X showed the officer, who is deployed as a police observer in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas, issuing a stern warning to Falta TMC candidate Jehangir Khan, saying he would be "dealt with properly" if his people continued to "threaten" voters in the constituency ahead of the second phase of voting.

Who is Ajay Pal Sharma

Ajay Pal Sharma is a 2011-batch IPS officer of the Uttar Pradesh Police. The 41-year-old Ajay Pal is currently posted as Additional CP (Law and Order) in Prayagraj. Prior to this, he has served as SP/SSP in five districts.

During his 22-month tenure as SP in Jaunpur, he conducted a record 136 encounters. This is the highest number of encounters during any SP’s tenure in any district, according to a report by Bhaskar English, which is why he is popularly known as an encounter specialist. Before his IPS career, he was a practising dentist. In 2008, Ajay left dentistry and began preparing for the UPSC.

He has been posted in several UP districts such as Shamli, Noida, and Rampur, where he followed a “zero tolerance” policy against criminals.

Jahangir Khan breaks silence

Jahangir Khan has responded to the officer’s viral video, warning: “Around 3 pm yesterday, he came and tried to threaten my security at this party office. Then he went and tried to threaten my family. Is this the duty of a police observer? If he has to say something, he has to tell the SP or IC. There is no rule of the ECI that says that a police observer can go and threaten people at their houses,” he said while speaking to news agency IANS.

"To aid BJP these people are doing illegal things. They are trying to threatened TMC workers and leaders because they know that they won't win but we are not afraid." he added.