KOLKATA: Rejecting the West Bengal government’s plea to exempt 25 senior IAS and IPS officers from poll duty as central election observers in four poll-bound states Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday asked them to attend the two-day-long briefing meeting from 5 January.
In a mail sent to the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (WBCEO) Manoranjan, the ECI stated, “With reference to request made in the trailing mail and attached documents, I am directed to state that the Commission has rejected the exemption request made in respect of officer(s) concerned. Accordingly, the concerned officer(s) may be directed to attend the Briefing Meeting on the set date and time for the respective Batch.”
The Mamata Banerjee government had sent a letter last week to the ECI requesting that it spared nine officers, including the home secretary, who were appointed as central observers for Assembly polls in the four states.
The government had proposed the names of nine other officers who could replace the observers appointed by the national poll body in these states, where elections would be held along with Bengal.
The EC had appointed 15 IAS officers and 10 IPS officers as central observers for the forthcoming elections to the four states. The officers were asked to attend a briefing meeting in Delhi on 5 and 6 February.
The poll body had also made it clear that if the officers failed to participate in the meeting, it would be viewed seriously, and disciplinary proceedings could be initiated against them.
Senior officials at the state secretariat Nabanna had said that the ECI had appointed the officers of the Bengal cadre from the civil list without consulting the state government.
The top brass of Nabanna was particularly annoyed with the appointment of senior officers like J P Meena, the home secretary, P B Salim, the minorities affairs secretary, and P Ulaganathan, the panchayat secretary, as the central observers.
The appointment of a HS of a poll-bound state as a central poll observer outside his/her home state is a rare move taken by the ECI.
According to sources in the Commission, the national poll body had repeatedly asked the Bengal government to recommend names of IAS and IPS officers of the state for central poll observers in other states but it was allegedly sitting idle on the issue.
The Commission had written at least five letters to Nabanna seeking a list of officers since November last year. Finally, the Commission had sent the letter to Agarwal, the sources said.