Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced a substantial increase in the remuneration of personnel engaged in election duties, including presiding officers, polling officials, counting personnel and micro observers.
This is the first major revision in such payments since changes made between 2014 and 2016.
Under the revised structure, presiding officers will now receive an additional Rs 150 per day, taking their daily remuneration from Rs 350 to Rs 500. In total, they will be entitled to Rs 2,000 for their duty period.
Similarly, polling officers will get Rs 400, a rise of Rs 150 from their daily allowance of Rs 250. Their consolidated payment will be Rs 1,600.
The apex poll body has also increased the pay packet of counting assistants, who will now see their daily remuneration rise from Rs 250 to Rs 450, marking an increase of Rs 200. They will now receive a total of Rs 1,350 for their services. Group D staff will get Rs 350 as a daily allowance, up from Rs 200, bringing their total remuneration to Rs 1,400.
Apart from this, personnel involved in video surveillance teams, video viewing teams, accounting teams, control rooms and call centres have been categorised into two groups for payment purposes.
For Class I and II officers in these teams, the remuneration has been raised from a lump sum of Rs 1,200 to Rs 3,000. For Class III staff, the amount has been doubled from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000.
Micro observers, who play a crucial role in maintaining transparency during polling, will now receive double remuneration, amounting to Rs 2,000, up from Rs 1,000.
The Commission has also revised allowances for CAPF personnel and officials. Gazetted officers on duty for less than 15 days will now receive Rs 4,000 instead of Rs 2,500. For those deployed for more than 15 days, the allowance has been increased from Rs 1,250 to Rs 2,000. At the constable level, the allowance has been raised from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,500 for duties under 15 days. The food allowance for polling personnel, police personnel and other staff deployed at all polling and counting centres has been increased to Rs 500 per day from Rs 150.
Additionally, Deputy DEOs will now receive an allowance equivalent to their monthly basic pay. The allowance for Sector Officers and Assistant Expenditure Observers has been increased from Rs 7,500 to Rs 10,000.
The ECI stated that the decision has been taken keeping in mind the long working hours and challenging conditions faced by election personnel, with the aim of boosting morale and ensuring the smooth conduct of the electoral process.