Kolkata, Dec 20 The Election Commission of India (ECI) has made it clear that district magistrates (DMs), who also function as district electoral officers (DEOs), will not be the controlling authorities of the micro-observers to be appointed for supervising hearing sessions on claims and objections to the draft voters’ list in West Bengal, scheduled to begin next week.
This means the micro-observers will neither be answerable to the DMs or DEOs nor bound by any instructions issued by them.
As per the Commission's guidelines, the micro-observers will report only to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, and the special roll observers appointed by the ECI to review the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state, sources in the CEO’s office said.
They added that the micro-observers will function under the direct supervision of the special roll observers, who are either serving or retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers.
However, the CEO's office clarified that DMs and DEOs will be responsible for providing logistical support to the micro-observers and ensuring their security during operations in the respective districts.
The hearing sessions in the second stage of the three-stage SIR exercise are likely to commence from December 27. The draft voters' list was published on December 16.
Around 3,000 micro-observers will be appointed for the hearing sessions, with the aim of deploying one micro-observer at each hearing table.
As decided by the Commission, Central government employees or employees of Central public sector undertakings or public sector banks at Group-B level or above will be appointed as micro-observers.
The hearings on claims and objections will be conducted only at the offices of the DMs or DEOs. The SIR exercise in West Bengal began on November 4 and will conclude with the publication of the final voters’ list on February 14 next year. Thereafter, the ECI will announce the polling and counting dates for the Assembly elections.
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