Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (ECI) is likely to change the Returning Officer (RO) in the Bhowanipore constituency following the Trinamool Congress’s objections over the appointment of Surajit Roy as the RO for the constituency where Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is pitted against BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari in the forthcoming Assembly polls. The apex poll body has written to the state secretariat, Nabanna, to submit a panel of three new, eligible officers for the post.
In a formal complaint to Nirvachan Sadan on behalf of the party on Tuesday, Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien claimed that Roy, a 2011-batch WBCS officer who previously served as the Block Development Officer of Nandigram II, was “closely associated” with Adhikari. Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition, is the BJP MLA of Nandigram.
“It is widely known that he is closely associated with Suvendu Adhikari of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Notably, Suvendu Adhikari is contesting from the Bhowanipore Assembly Constituency, thereby giving rise to a reasonable likelihood of bias and lack of neutrality in the discharge of Surajit Roy’s functions as Returning Officer,” the letter stated. On March 23, the ECI ordered the replacement of as many as 73 ROs in the state, including Bhowanipore, and Roy was appointed as the new RO.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had raised questions over the incumbent RO’s impartiality while speaking at Dum Dum Airport on Tuesday. Consequently, after scrutinising these allegations, the Commission wrote to the State Chief Secretary, directing the submission of a new panel of names.
The letter, signed by the Commission Secretary, stipulated that a list of three suitable officers must be submitted to the Commission by 5:00 pm on Thursday.