The Election Commission of India (ECI) has appointed four senior IAS officers as special roll observers to further strengthen monitoring of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal.
According to Commission sources, the appointments have been made initially only for West Bengal, amid heightened scrutiny and political controversy surrounding the SIR process in the state. Subrata Gupta is already overseeing the SIR exercise in West Bengal as a special roll observer.
The four newly appointed officers will primarily be tasked with scrutinising documents submitted during the revision process, the Commission said.
Sources indicated that the officers have been drawn from the Ministry of Social Security, the Ministry of Sports, the Office of the Director of Census Operations, Tripura, and the National Health Authority of the central government.
Election officials and experts noted that a significant portion of the documents required for verification under the SIR process are directly or indirectly linked to these departments. The appointments are therefore being viewed as an effort to deploy specialised administrative expertise for document verification.
The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls is currently underway in 12 states and Union Territories. West Bengal has emerged as the focal point of debate and controversy. Allegations of harassment of voters, disputes involving booth-level officers (BLOs), and instances of alive individuals being declared deceased have largely been reported from the state.
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Against this backdrop, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on four occasions, accusing the ECI of harassing common citizens in the name of voter list revision and alleging that the Commission’s role is becoming increasingly politically biased. In her letter, she described several recent decisions and actions of the Commission as “worrying for democracy.”
The Chief Minister also raised concerns about migrant workers from West Bengal who are currently outside the state. She alleged that despite repeatedly informing the election commission about their difficulties, concessions have been granted late and only partially.
While the Commission has allowed migrant voters to appear for hearings through authorised family members, Mamata claimed that this facility is not being uniformly extended to all eligible workers, reflecting what she termed a lack of sensitivity to ground realities.
The election commission has not yet issued a detailed response to the Chief Minister’s letter. Meanwhile, the appointment of additional special roll observers is being seen as a significant step as the SIR process in West Bengal continues under close political and public scrutiny.
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