Bengal Election Alert: ECI's Second Warning on Contract Staff Violations

On behalf of the ECI, an Additional Chief Electoral Officer had sent a note to all the District Magistrates, who are also the District Election Officers (DEOs) of the respective districts, where a strong note of caution had been issued against the involvement of contractual state government employees in the revision exercise, the first stage of which started from November 4.

The note of caution had been issued after it came to the notice of the commission that some District Magistrates, as well as the DEOs, had been involving contractual staff in the process, violating the ECI-mandated guidelines in the matter.

"In reference to the above, I would like to state that contractual data entry operators, contractual staff, BSK staff, etc., cannot be used for data entry work for the ongoing SIR, 2025. It has been reported that some officers are using local orders and using such Data Entry Operators and contractual staff in violation of ECI guidelines. Appropriate action should be initiated against such DEOs/EROs/AEROs," read the note from the additional CEO, a copy of which is available with IANS.

Welcoming the move, the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, said that this directive from the ECI demands immediate attention.

"The ECI guidelines are crystal clear that contractual data entry operators, contractual staff, BSK staff, or any such personnel cannot be involved in data entry work for the ongoing SIR. This information needs to be shared so that the Public remains vigilant regarding any violation," Adhikari said.

This is not the first time that ECI has cautioned the DEOs against the involvement of contractual state government employees in the ongoing SIR exercise.

Last month, the ECI issued a similar note of caution to the DEOs, advising them to exercise particular care when selecting para-teachers as booth-level officers (BLOs) in their respective districts for the SIR exercise.

The ECI then reminded that, as per commission-mandated guidelines, only permanent state government employees and permanent teachers in state-run schools covered under retirement benefits, such as provident fund, pension, and gratuity, should be the priority for selection as BLOs.

In exceptional cases where such permanent state government employees or permanent teachers are involved elsewhere, contractual state government employees can be considered for selection as BLOs, provided there is concurrence from the CEO's office.

- IANS