NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has deployed over 25 lakh election officials to conduct assembly polls in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, along with by-elections in six States, following the announcement of the poll schedule.
The Commission, for the second consecutive day, has reshuffled senior officers in poll-bound West Bengal. A total of 13 IAS officers were transferred and appointed as DMs-cum-DEOs, and five IPS officers as deputy inspectors general (DIGs).
According to the poll body, the deployment includes nearly 15 lakh polling personnel and about 8.5 lakh security personnel, apart from 40,000 counting staff, 49,000 micro observers, 21,000 sector officers and additional personnel assigned specifically for counting duties.
At the field level, over 2.18 lakh Booth Level Officers have been made accessible to voters through phone and the ‘Book-a-call’ feature on the ECINet app.
The Commission said that the large-scale deployment is aimed at ensuring that the elections are conducted in a violence-free and inducement-free manner across 832 Assembly constituencies.
The Commission said all personnel deployed for election duty will be deemed to be on deputation to it under Section 28A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, ensuring administrative control during the electoral process.
In addition, 1,111 central observers have been deployed across constituencies to monitor the conduct of polls. These include 557 general observers, 188 police observers and 366 expenditure observers. Most of them have already reached their assigned locations.
The observers will act as the Commission’s 'eyes and ears' on the ground and will hold daily interactions with candidates, political parties and members of the public to address election-related grievances.
The observers will share their contact details and meet the candidates, political parties or their representatives or any member of the public, to hear their election-related grievances at a specified time every day.
According to an official communication, officers including Jitin Yadav (Cooch Behar), Sandeep Ghosh (Jalpaiguri), Vivek Kumar (Uttar Dinajpur), Rajanvir Singh Kapur (Malda) and R Arjun (Murshidabad) have been posted as DMs-cum-DEOs.
Officers including Jitin Yadav (Cooch Behar), Sandeep Ghosh (Jalpaiguri), Vivek Kumar (Uttar Dinajpur), Rajanvir Singh Kapur (Malda) and R Arjun (Murshidabad), have been posted as DMs-cum-DEOs.
Similarly, Srikant Palli has been appointed as DM-cum-DEO of Nadia, Sweta Agarwal in Purba Bardhaman, Shilpa Gorisaria in North 24 Parganas, Abhishek Kumar Tiwary in South 24 Parganas, Harishankar Panicker in Darjeeling and T Balasubramanian in Alipurduar.
Smita Pandey has been posted as Municipal Commissioner of Kolkata Municipal Corporation and DEO of Kolkata North, while Randhir Kumar will serve as DEO of Kolkata South.
"These officers will play a crucial role in ensuring free, fair and transparent elections. Many of them will also function in observer capacities to closely monitor poll preparedness and conduct at the district level," a senior Election Commission of India official said.
In a parallel order, the poll panel transferred and posted five IPS officers as DIGs. Rathod Amitkumar Bharat has been appointed DIG, Raiganj Range, while Ajeet Singh Yadav will serve as DIG, Murshidabad. Shrihari Pandey has been posted as DIG, Bardhaman, Kankar Prosad Barui as DIG, Presidency Range, and Anjali Singh as DIG, Jalpaiguri.
The Commission directed that the orders be implemented with immediate effect and compliance reports on the joining of the officers be submitted by March 19.