Kolkata, March 3 A dispute erupted between Manoj Agarwal, the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal, and a state civil service officers' organization over the nearly 60.06 lakh entries marked as "under adjudication" in the post-SIR electoral rolls published on February 28.
These 60.06 lakh names have been kept "under adjudication" primarily due to what officials termed "logical discrepancies" in the enumeration forms. These voters remain on the rolls pending decisions by judicial officers.
The controversy began on Monday after Agarwal indicated on X that some names remained undecided at the level of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant EROs (AEROs), leading to their referral for adjudication. The EROs and AEROs are state civil service officers.
"It is important to note that certain names have been marked as 'Under Adjudication' since the concerned EROs/AEROs did not decide on them after hearing. As a result, those names being pending were sent for adjudication by Judicial Officers as per the order of the Hon'ble Apex Court," Agarwal said in the post.
The West Bengal Civil Service (Executive) Officers' Association rejected the allegation that EROs and AEROs were responsible for the large number of names marked under that category.
In a statement, the association said that the EROs and AEROs had carried out their duties diligently throughout the revision exercise by holding hearings, uploading documents, and passing reasoned orders.
The group maintained that the EROs and AEROs had carried out their duties diligently throughout the revision exercise by holding hearings, uploading documents, and passing reasoned orders.
The statement claimed that Micro Observers and Roll Observers appointed by the Election Commission of India returned several cases that had already been disposed of by EROs and AEROs without offering any remarks.
"This has led to a large number of names being marked as 'under adjudication'," the Association said.
Terming attempts to shift the blame onto officers involved in the electoral process as "demeaning," the association said that such actions were adversely affecting their morale.