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Kolkata, Oct 23 (IANS) Uncertainties continue over the initiation of work review of booth-level infrastructure maintenance work, technically called Assured Minimum Facilities (AMF) and Extended Minimum Facilities (EMF), carried out in West Bengal during the last three elections.
The deadline given by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal to state government undertaking Mackintosh Burn Limited (MBL) to begin the review work expired on Wednesday.
However, the CEO’s office is yet to receive any communication from the state-owned entity in this regard, as confirmed by insiders in the CEO’s office.
“It was necessary to review the booth-level infrastructure maintenance work done in West Bengal during the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, to know what kind of additional maintenance work is required between the crucial state assembly elections next year.
An insider in the CEO’s office said, “Accordingly, the CEO’s office set a deadline for McIntosh Burn to begin review work. That deadline expired on Wednesday.”
West Bengal CEO, Manoj Kumar Agarwal is currently in New Delhi to attend an important two-day meeting between the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, and CEOs of all states that began on Wednesday.
Agarwal is expected to return to Kolkata on Thursday night and take a decision on how to take up the matter again with the management of McIntosh Burn.
Insiders in the CEO’s office said that a review of the AMF and EMF done in the last three elections was necessary to clarify what kind of additional maintenance work is required, and accordingly, the election funds can be allocated for the same.
A fresh tussle has already started between the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the West Bengal government over the choice of the agency required to conduct AMF and EMF at polling stations ahead of the Assembly elections next year.
To recall, after initially agreeing to take up the maintenance of booth-level infrastructure, McIntosh Burn later backed out of that responsibility. Subsequently, last week, the office of the CEO sent a strongly worded communiqué to the management of the firm, where the ECI and the office of the CEO exercised their authority under certain sections of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and directed the state government to carry out the AMF activities as agreed earlier.
The latest letter sent by the Additional Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to the director of McIntosh Burn has asked the entity to start preparations for election booth maintenance activities or face consequences under existing legal provisions, including criminal proceedings against the directors of the entity under various sections of the Indian Justice Code (BNS).
–IANS
Source/Red