Grave uncertainties are looming over the inclusion of the 8,505 Group-B officers provided by the West Bengal in the ongoing SIR
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KOLKATA — Grave uncertainties are looming over the inclusion of the 8,505 Group-B officers provided by the West Bengal government in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state, as the Election Commission (ECI) has not received the detailed background information of these officers from the state government till February 11.
Insiders from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, said that besides asking for the pay bands of all these 8,505 officers whose names have been recommended by the state government, the ECI had also sought some additional details in case of some in the list whose status as Group-B officers is doubtful.
“With just two days left for the deadline to complete the hearing sessions on claims and objections on the draft voters’ list on February 14, there is hardly any possibility of any of these 8,505 officers being involved in the hearing process. Some of them may be involved during the document scrutiny and disposal phase from February 14 to February 21. However, that will also depend on how far the state government clarifies the credentials of the officers in question,” said a CEO’s office insider.
It is understood that the ECI has obtained specific information indicating that the names of some upper-division clerks and even typists have been included in the list of 8,505 Group-B officers whose names were provided by the state government. There is also information that the name of a retired state government employee has been included in the same list.
The ECI had already sought the background details of the questionable names in the list from the state government and the respective state government departments that they were attached to.
The final voters’ list is scheduled to be published on February 28. After the publication of the final voters’ list, the full bench of the ECI will arrive in Kolkata for a two-day visit to take stock of the post-SIR scenario. Soon after that, the ECI will announce the polling dates for the Assembly election in the state.