Bengal SIR: Seven DMs/DEOs face CEC’s ire at virtual meeting

Kolkata: As many as seven district magistrates (DMs)/district electoral officers (DEOs), on Friday, faced the ire of the Election Commission of India (ECI) for various reasons mainly in relation to violations of the Commission-set guidelines for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal.

These DMs, also the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs), faced the ire of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar, at a virtual meeting of the full-bench of the commission, which was attended among others, by the west Bengal CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal, his subordinate officers in the CEO office, all the DMs/DEOs, electoral registration officers (EROs) and the assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs).

A CEO’s office insider present at the virtual meeting said that the district whose bureaucratic heads faced the ire of the Commission included Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Malda, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, East Midnapore, and East Burdwan.

These seven DMs/DEOs were cautioned by the CEC for different reasons, the CEO’s office insider added.

While the DM/DEO of Cooch Behar faced the ire of CEC Kumar because of the delay in uploading of the identity documents furnished at the hearing session on the claims and objections in the draft voters’ list.

The DMs/DEOs of Jalpaiguri, Malda, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, and East Midnapore districts were reprimanded over complaints of dereliction of duty against them.

The DM/DEO of South 24 Parganas district sought an explanation of why no action was taken against the ERO at Bhangar in the district, accused of threatening the micro-observers along with a local Trinamool Congress leader.

The DM/DEO of East Burdwan district was advised by the Commission to refrain from making politically-loaded statements in public.

“The CEC issued an overall note of caution for all the DMs/DEOs of possible disciplinary action against them in case of reports of dereliction of duty, further, which might even include a long-term impact on their annual confidential reports, which might impact their career growth,” the CEO’s office insider said.

The extended deadline for the hearing sessions on claims and objections to the draft voters’ list is set to expire on Saturday.

The phase of the scrutiny of the documents furnished at the hearing session will continue till February 21.

The final voters’ list will be published on February 28.

IANS