Bengal pledges 8,505 officers ahead of Sir hearing
Sources were quoted as saying that the state government had conveyed to the Election Commission of India its willingness to deploy 8,505 Group B officers for the revision exercise.
New Delhi: The West Bengal government has informed the Election Commission that it is ready to provide 8,505 Group B officers of the state or its instrumentalities for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, according to an agency report.
The submission assumes significance as the poll panel had earlier told the Supreme Court that the state had made available only a limited number of officers for overseeing the exercise.
The development comes ahead of a scheduled hearing on Monday before a Supreme Court Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice N.V. Anjaria, which is set to hear a batch of pleas related to the SIR process in West Bengal, including a petition filed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Sources were quoted as saying that the state government had conveyed to the Election Commission of India its willingness to deploy 8,505 Group B officers for the revision exercise.
During the February 4 hearing, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the poll panel, told the apex court that the state had provided only 80 Grade II officers, such as sub-divisional magistrates, to supervise the SIR. He had also submitted that lower-ranked staff, including Anganwadi workers, were largely deployed for the exercise.
Banerjee had disputed the allegation, stating that the state had provided all assistance sought by the Election Commission. She had urged the Supreme Court to intervene in the SIR process, alleging that West Bengal was being unfairly targeted and that voters were being inconvenienced.
The Supreme Court took note of the Chief Minister’s petition and observed that genuine voters must remain on the electoral rolls. It issued notices to the poll panel and the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal, seeking their responses by February 9.
The apex court also directed the Election Commission to ensure that booth-level officers and electoral roll officers adopt a sensitive approach while issuing notices, particularly in cases involving minor discrepancies such as spelling errors.
Earlier, on January 19, the Supreme Court had issued a series of directions, stressing that the SIR process in West Bengal should be conducted transparently and without causing hardship to voters.
