KOLKATA: With the Assembly polls in West Bengal less than a year away, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has taken measures to ensure the "complete independence" of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office and is also preparing to shift the office to a Central Government premises in Kolkata.
A special intensive revision (SIR) of the voters’ list will also commence soon in the state, according to ECI sources.
Currently, the CEO office in West Bengal functions under the "administrative and financial control" of the state’s Home and Hill Affairs Department. In a firm directive to the West Bengal Government, the ECI has urged that full financial and administrative independence be granted to the CEO office.
The communication, recently sent to West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant by ECI Under Secretary Ashutosh M, stresses the importance of delinking the CEO’s functions from the state’s Home and Hill Affairs Department, especially with the Assembly elections scheduled for next year.
Plans are also underway to shift the CEO office from its current location at the Balmer Lawrie building on Strand Road, Dalhousie, to a Central Government building in Kolkata before Durga Puja, which falls between September and October.
An official of the CEO office said, “The number of people in this office has increased significantly compared to the space available. Apart from this, there is a problem of parking. Therefore, a larger space has been considered for a long time.”
Meanwhile, CEO Manoj Agarwal said the training process for BLOs (Booth Level Government Officials) has already begun in the state. According to sources, this training is a prelude to the SIR exercise that will soon begin in West Bengal.
In its directive to the West Bengal Government, the ECI stated that under the current system, the CEO office lacks the necessary autonomy. The letter also refers to the creation of a CEO office that operates independently of the state, with its own training infrastructure.
The Commission further informed Nabanna, the state administrative headquarters, that the CEO office currently does not possess sufficient financial authority.
Moreover, the CEO is a senior officer, currently holding the rank of Additional Chief Secretary, compared to the West Bengal Home Secretary, Nandini Chakraborty.
Nabanna has also been advised to fill four vacant posts of Deputy, Additional, and Joint CEO ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.
Significantly, under the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of a state is not meant to function under the finance or home department of the respective state government. It is an independent constitutional body that operates under the supervision of the Election Commission of India.