Kolkata: A team from the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday highlighted Bihar’s rigorous approach to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process during a high-level virtual meeting with Bengal’s District Magistrates (DMs)—who also serve as District Election Officers (DEOs)—in the presence of senior officials from the Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office.
According to sources, the ECI delegation led by Deputy Election Commissioner (DEC) Gyanesh Bharti reminded participants that Bihar’s SIR exercise had been carried out with “extraordinary rigour.” Officials there had travelled nearly 4,000 kilometres across the state to monitor the process and several government functionaries were show-caused for lapses.
“You should study and understand how we conducted the SIR in Bihar,” senior ECI officials reportedly told their Bengal counterparts. Detailed presentations were made on the measures taken in Bihar to ensure transparency and accuracy in the revision process.
The ECI team emphasised that Bengal’s DEOs must demonstrate similar precision and commitment while preparing for the exercise. Sources said the Commission has instructed that all preparatory work related to SIR be completed between October 11 and 15, fuelling speculation that the formal SIR process in Bengal could begin immediately after October 15.
During the review, the ECI team also assessed each district’s readiness for the drive and raised questions on whether districts would be able to print at least 20 percent of enumeration forms within three to four days of the SIR notification. While North Bengal districts were largely excluded from Wednesday’s meeting, Alipurduar participated.
Later in the day, the ECI team conducted an interactive session at the Rajarhat Zilla Parishad auditorium with AEROs and BLOs of Rajarhat New Town and Rajarhat-Gopalpur assemblies. The Commission instructed BLOs to work diligently using the ECI App and new digital modules being rolled out, and to contact the Commission directly if they encounter difficulties. The ECI team is scheduled to visit Bankura, East Midnapore and Jhargram on Thursday before returning to New Delhi.