Bengal SIR: EC directs DGP to ensure safety of poll officials

Kolkata: The Election Commission on Friday wrote to West Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar directing him to ensure safety and security of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and other poll officials currently engaged in the conduct of SIR exercise across the state, following receipt of reports that a section of the on-field functionaries are being threatened by unspecified entities.

This is the second letter from the EC to the state government in three days related to security breach of poll officials, the previous one being shot on Wednesday to Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma over a "serious security breach" at the CEO's office following an agitation earlier this week by a section of BLOs protesting "excessive work pressure".

The fresh EC communication over possible security lapses, this time of BLOs, coincided with the day state BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya urged Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to immediately visit the state and personally assess what he alleged was an "atmosphere of fear, coercion and intimidation" of BLOs by the ruling Trinamool Congress.

"It has come to the notice of the Election Commission of India from various quarters that there is an apparent threat to the safety and security to the lives of Booth Level Officers and other field functionaries. This may prevent them from discharging their statutory duties towards the conduct of SIR," Sujeet Kumar Mishra, EC secretary, wrote.

"The Commission is concerned about the safety and security of Booth Level Officers and other field functionaries engaged in SIR work and therefore directs that all possible measures will be taken by police authorities to ensure safety and security of these officers and staff," the letter also stated.

The commission insisted that the state must ensure there is no "perceptible atmosphere of fear, threat and undue influence" on the field functionaries and that no untoward incident occurs at any place.

Over 80,000 BLOs spread over a nearly equal number of polling stations are currently engaged in distribution, collection and digitisation of enumeration forms in West Bengal.

Accusing the TMC of unleashing a "threat culture" to manipulate the revision process, the BJP state president alleged that the BLOs were being forced to work under duress, often pressured to upload false data, and said that the EC "cannot monitor West Bengal's volatile ground reality from Delhi with a few routine statements and phone calls".

Meanwhile, a senior official at the CEO's office confirmed that in the wake of the recent security breach at the central Kolkata building, the ECI has directed that the process of the shifting of the office to a security-appropriate location, which had already been set in motion before, now be expedited.

"The ECI has also directed the Kolkata Police Commissioner to ensure complete security of the existing as well as the new office of CEO, West Bengal," the official said.