Kolkata, March 18: Aiming for complete transparency in the electoral management system for the upcoming two-phase Assembly polls in West Bengal next month, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has now decided to introduce a system for overseeing the daily functioning of the general observers, police, and expenditure observers appointed for the elections in the state.
A special monitoring cell, under the leadership and direct control of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, will be created. This cell will not only oversee the functioning of these ECI-appointed observers but will also send a daily report on its observations to the ECI headquarters in New Delhi, according to an insider from the CEO's office.
"The ECI has already appointed a total of 294 general observers for West Bengal, making it the only one among the four poll-bound states and one union territory to have one general observer for each Assembly constituency. At the same time, the West Bengal polls will also involve 84 police observers, the highest among the poll-bound places. This time, the West Bengal polls will also involve 100 expenditure observers, the second-highest among poll-bound states and UTs. Now, the ECI has decided to bring its day-to-day functioning under surveillance to make the system absolutely foolproof and transparent," the CEO's office insider said.
He also said that the initiative was in line with the commitment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar earlier this month to make the West Bengal Assembly polls free, fair, and violence-free.
"By bringing the functioning of the ECI-appointed general, police, and expenditure observers under a daily screening mechanism, it also wants to send a message of transparency in the system and address the allegations that the ECI is limiting its surveillance only to the bureaucrats and police of the state government," the CEO's office insider said.
Meanwhile, after deputing the West Bengal Home Secretary, Jagdish Prasad Meena, as a central observer for poll-bound Tamil Nadu, the ECI has chosen two other departmental secretaries in the state for deputation as central observers to other poll-bound states.
They are the state public works department (PWD) secretary, Antara Acharya, and the state food processing secretary, Parvez Ahmed Siddique. However, both have requested the ECI to reconsider the decision to depute them as central observers to other poll-bound states.
