ECI's data-entry hiring not Bengal-specific, followed nationwide: BJP counters CM Mamata's objections

Kolkata, Nov 24 The Election Commission of India (ECI)'s proposal for hiring 1,000 data-entry operators and 50 software developers for a period of one year amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal is not exclusive to the state but is being followed in all states and Union Territories where a similar revision exercise is currently underway, claimed the BJP on Monday.

The BJP's reaction came in response to a letter earlier in the day from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, in which she objected to the commission's request for proposal for hiring 1,000 data-entry operators and 50 software developers in West Bengal for a year.

BJP's Information Technology Cell chief and the party's central observer for West Bengal, Amit Malviya, issued a social media statement reacting to the Chief Minister's letter. He reminded Mamata Banerjee that when the SIR was conducted in Bihar earlier this year, similar appointments were made there as well, and that the same system is being followed in other states and Union Territories where SIR is proceeding simultaneously with that in West Bengal.

According to Malviya, it was astonishing that the Chief Minister was objecting to such appointments by the commission at a time when, he claimed, it was widely known that one of the Trinamool Congress' contracted agencies had penetrated multiple state government bodies, attended official meetings, and routinely meddled in administrative decisions.

"There are even allegations that members of this very agency were quietly appointed as DEOs and BSK staff," Malviya added. Although he did not name anyone, his indication was clearly towards the Prashant Kishor-founded Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), which has been strategising poll campaigns for the Trinamool Congress since the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections.

"So, before pointing fingers, please make public the process you used to select DEOs and BSK operators. If the CEO has issued a request for proposal today, he has done so exactly as per your own financial rules. You have no business screaming at him for following procedures created to ensure fairness and equal opportunity — principles you have never demonstrated any respect for," Malviya's social media statement read.

On the Chief Minister's objection to the ECI's proposal for setting up polling stations inside private housing complexes for the crucial West Bengal assembly polls scheduled next year, Malviya pointed out that any premises can be designated a polling station as long as it ensures ease of voting for all voters.

"Similar booths have been set up in high-rise buildings in Delhi and elsewhere. So why is it suddenly troubling you that the ECI is creating additional booths to make voting more convenient? No booths are being taken away from existing voters. So do explain: What exactly is upsetting you — the increase in voting access, or the collapse of the narrative you’re trying to build?" Malviya questioned.

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