KOLKATA: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday appointed four more IAS officers from different central ministries in Delhi as Special Roll Observers (SROs) in Bengal. The appointees are Dr Sailesh, Deputy Secretary of the National Health Authority; Ratan Biswas, Director Census Operation, Tripura; Sandeep Rewaji Rathod, Director, Department of Sports, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports; and Vikas Singh, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
In letters to the officers, the Commission stated that their role is to oversee the process and ensure “no eligible person is excluded from enrolment and no ineligible elector is included in the electoral roll.” Their duties will begin from the claims and objections period and end with the final publication of the electoral roll. Earlier, Subrata Gupta, retired IAS and former Union Food Processing Secretary, was appointed SRO in charge of the state, along with 12 Bengal cadre IAS officers in the SIR process. Separately, the Commission has issued show-cause notices to three Booth Level Officers after voters—Manirul Molla and Maya Das of Metiabruz, and Harekrishna Giri of Kakdwip—who were marked dead, appeared at a political meeting addressed by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on January 2. The poll panel is probing the cause of the error.