It is a clarification of West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal when he stated that all the decisions regarding doing a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electorate rolls in the state is a prerogative of the Election Commission of India (ECI). When speculations were raised following the success of such practice in Bihar, Agarwal responded by saying that the state election machinery is training its officials, yet it cannot be started alone.
According to Agarwal, the ECI has been authorised exclusively to make a decision on whether there would be an SIR in West Bengal, and told the court that training of booth-level officers (BOs) and supervisors is already being carried out in order to be ready, should an announcement regarding a revised date be made. He underlined the fact that the training is supposed to make the officials realize their statutory duties and perform their tasks efficiently in case the need arises.
The continuing SIR in Bihar, which is under assembly elections in October-November, has led to a big political controversy. Among the states is West Bengal, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been vociferous in her opposition to any such exercise, declaring just last week that she would never allow it in her state, where elections are to be held early next year. Leaders of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), as well as other opposition parties, have alleged that the central government led by the BJP is trying to manipulate voter lists by using the EC, which is currently facing a hearing at the Supreme Court.
BJP leaders in Bengal have, however, indicated that a voter revision, albeit like that being done in Bihar, may be applied in the state before polls. The Election Officers are already being trained in some of the districts: Malda (July 24) and Purba Bardhaman (July 25). The new meetings will be based in Kolkata, Midnapore, and Jalpaiguri. The training is held with the banner of the India International Institute of democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM), which is the training wing of the ECI, formed in 2011.
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