ECI Warns Against Hooliganism in Bengal Voter Roll Revision, CEC to TNC

"The CEC responded to the queries raised by the Chief Minister at the meeting and explained that the rule of law should prevail and anybody taking law into their own hands should be dealt with strictly as per the provisions of law and powers vested in the Commission," an insider from the poll body informed.

In the meeting, the ECI insider added, the CEC also flagged the issue of Trinamool Congress legislators openly using abusive and threatening language against the Commission, especially against the CEC, and also threatening the electoral officials.

The CEC also reportedly narrated incidents of vandalism of the offices of the electoral registration officers (EROs), sub-divisional officers (SDOs), and block development officers (BDOs).

"The CEC also gave a clear message that no pressure, obstruction, or interference of any kind by anyone should be exerted on officers engaged in SIR exercise," the Commission insider added.

During the meeting, CEC Gyanesh Kumar also reportedly raised some critical administrative issues related to the SIR exercise.

He specially stressed that the honorarium payable to booth-level officers (BLOs) be released promptly without any further delay, and also pointed out that as of now, only Rs 7,000 of the Rs 18,000 per BLO had been paid.

The CEC pointed out that although the Commission, on January 20, had requested the appointment of returning officers for all the 294 Assembly constituencies in West Bengal from the ranks of sub-divisional magistrates, sub-divisional officers and revenue divisional officers from general administration, till date, returning officers from those ranks have been appointed for only 67 Assembly constituencies.

"The CEC also expressed annoyance over departmental transfers of three bureaucrats involved in the SIR process in West Bengal without taking prior consent of the Commission. The CEC also noted that although the Commission had earlier directed the state government to revoke the departmental transfers of these three bureaucrats, no action had been reported in the matter on the part of the state government so far,' the Commission insider said.

The CEO also reportedly expressed anguish over the non-compliance of the Commission's order for disciplinary action against two electoral registration officers and two assistant electoral registration officers, whose involvement in electoral rolls manipulation had been proven beyond doubt.

Incidentally, while interacting with the media persons after the meeting, although Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched a scathing attack against the CEC and accused the latter of being "arrogant" during the meeting, she did not specify the exact point of disagreement that surfaced during the interaction.

She constantly accused the Commission of selectively targeting West Bengal during the SIR process by imposing certain decisions exclusively for the state. However, the communications made by the Commission insiders had exactly highlighted the points of disagreement that surfaced during the meeting.

- IANS