New Delhi, February 15 The Election Commission has asked the West Bengal chief secretary to comply with its directions by February 17, including paying enhanced remuneration to booth-level officers (BLOs) and filing FIRs against officials who wilfully violated norms during the ongoing Systematic Area Verification (SAV) exercise.
In a meeting with state Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravarty on Friday at Nirvachan Sadan, the Election Commission (EC) top brass directed her to comply with the poll authority's pending directions by 5:30 pm on Tuesday, a functionary said.
The EC has pulled up the West Bengal government for not releasing the increased honorarium for booth-level officers (BLOs) and the additional payment approved for the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
In August last year, the poll panel had doubled the annual remuneration of BLOs from Rs 6,000 to Rs 12,000 and raised the payment for BLO supervisors from Rs 12,000 to Rs 18,000. It also approved an honorarium for electoral registration officers (EROs) and assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs).
Another key issue is the EC's directions to the state government to file FIRs against officials who "wilfully flouted" norms during the SAV process.
Chakravarty was called by the EC, as she took over as the chief secretary in January this year. West Bengal is set to have assembly elections in the next two months.
Besides, the EC top brass also wanted to discuss pending issues with her, the functionary added.
The poll panel had last year asked the West Bengal government to file cases against four officers. The government suspended them, and departmental proceedings had also been initiated, but no FIR was lodged against them.