As Mumbai moves into a politically charged season ahead of the BMC elections, a quiet but significant administrative lapse has begun drawing scrutiny. The Mumbai Police has yet to transfer dozens of Police Sub-Inspectors (PSIs) and Assistant Police Inspectors (APIs) who have remained in the same postings for nearly four years, despite clear Election Commission (EC) guidelines mandating rotation to ensure neutrality.

Many of these officers belong to training batches 118, 119 and 120, recruited between 2019 and 2021, and have not been transferred even once since joining their current stations. The EC rule is explicit; any police or revenue officer posted in the same jurisdiction for more than three years must be shifted before elections. Mumbai Police complied with this requirement at senior levels before the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, smoothly transferring officers from the ranks of police inspector up to deputy commissioner of police. But at the sub-inspector level, the rotation process has stalled.