Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Kolkata, Oct 9 (IANS) As the Election Commission of India (ECI) hints at special intensive review (SIR) starting in West Bengal after October 15, the Commission has directed the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to ensure strict level-wise monitoring of the system, especially in the districts.
Instructions in this regard were given in an important meeting at the CEO’s office in Kolkata on Wednesday, which was chaired by Deputy Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Bharti, other members of the central ECI team, who are on a two-day visit to the state, CEO, West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, his subordinate officers in the CEO’s office and senior district level election officers.
An insider in the CEO office aware of the developments in the meeting said the central ECI team also outlined the process of level-wise monitoring of supervision.
“The forms and applications processed by the booth-level officers (BLOs) will be scrutinized by the Assistant Election Returning Officers (AEROs) and finally approved by the Election Returning Officers (EROs). At the district level, Additional District Magistrates (Elections) and District Magistrates, who are also District Election Officers, will monitor the entire process,” the CEO office insider said.
It is learned that the central ECI team has also issued a cryptic warning that any major lapse in completing the commission-mandated process in the SIR process could lead to disciplinary action against the election officials concerned, as was the case in Bihar, where the review process had been completed.
Recall that earlier this year, some EROs and EROs were suspended by the Commission for serious lapses in scrutiny of applications for enrollment in the electoral roll.
Wednesday’s meeting was also attended by ECI Director General (Information Technology) Seema Khanna, who stressed on the increased use of technology by BLOs while carrying out their processing tasks, especially in the amendment process.
“He particularly emphasized on the use of apps introduced by the Commission for amendment purpose. He said the increased use of technology in amendment will bring more transparency in the process,” said an insider in the CEO’s office.
Also, the Central ECI team particularly emphasized on maintaining SIR records digitally to avoid complications arising out of loss or misplacement of related paper documents. The last time SIR was conducted in West Bengal was in 2022.
–IANS
Source/Red