KOLKATA: In an unprecedented move, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has deployed 294 officers as general election observers, one for each of the 294 assembly constituencies in poll-bound West Bengal. This is the highest number of observers deployed in any poll-bound state this year.
All the observers hailing from states outside West Bengal will closely monitor elections process in their respective assembly segment across the state. They will work as per the ECI guidelines for efficient and effective management of elections scheduled in two phases on April 23 and 29.
The elections will be held at around 80,600 polling booths in Kolkata and districts.
According to a senior officer in the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal, “It might be an unheard-before initiative taken by the Commission in the history of electoral process management system in West Bengal, which is traditionally violence -prone during pre-and-post-poll period.”
“Usually, an election observer covers multiple assembly constituencies but this time it is different because of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls that has already removed around 64 lakhs absent, shifted dead and duplicate voters from the list in the state,” he said requesting anonymity.
“With deployment of so many IAS officers covering 294 constituencies each the ECI gives utmost importance for free and fair polls in Bengal,” he said.
As compared with other poll-bound states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Union Territory Puducherry, Bengal has got highest number of election observers.
For Assam, the national poll body has posted 51 general observers for 126 Assembly segments. For the 140-seat Assembly in Kerala, the poll panel has deployed 51 general observers. Tamil Nadu will have 136 general observers for 234 seats. In Puducherry, 17 general observers have been appointed for 30 Assembly seats.
While reacting to the heavy deployment of general observers, a retired state chief secretary said: “In the 2021 Assembly polls, the EC had deployed 160 general observers. But this year’s deployment is unprecedented.”
“They are the commission’s eyes and ears and are expected to play a neutral role without showing any favour in holding free and fair polls. They report guideline violations by political parties, candidates and EC officers. They have the authority to hold back counting of votes in case violations are found,” he said.
The EC has already made it clear that it would order repolling in a booth if there was any doubt over the proceedings during the polls.
Significantly, the general observers sent to Bengal were mostly from BJP-ruled states—Bihar, Odisha, Maharashtra, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.
All general observers have already reached Bengal, almost a month before the first phase of polling in the state. They have been instructed to meet contesting candidates, political parties and the general public every day to hear their election-related grievances.
“In the past, general observers used to visit the state when nomination of candidates started and stayed till the completion of the nomination process. Again, observers used to visit the state four-five days before the polling date, and stayed till poll results were declared,” the retired CS said.
The EC has also increased the number of expenditure observers for Bengal, taking the figure to 100 from 80 in 2021.