ECI seeks admin independence for Bengal CEO’s Office, writes to Chief Secretary

Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has written to the West Bengal government, directing it to ensure functional independence and administrative strengthening of the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Bengal.

In a letter to the Chief Secretary of West Bengal, Manoj Pant, the Commission has called for the creation of a separate Election Department, entirely delinked from any other state government department. “The Election Department should have a dedicated budget head. This will facilitate full financial and administrative autonomy to the CEO, as required for the effective and impartial conduct of elections,” the letter, signed by under secretary Ashutosh M, stated.

The Commission has raised concerns over the dual role currently assigned to Manoj Kumar Agarwal, who has been appointed as CEO while also serving as ex-officio additional chief secretary to the state’s Home and Hill Affairs (Election) Department. The ECI considers this dual responsibility problematic.

“The Commission has noted the lack of financial and administrative autonomy available to the CEO, West Bengal, in the existing arrangement, wherein the CEO’s office functions with limited financial powers, relying on a minor permanent advance from the Finance Department,” the letter reads. It further points out that the CEO’s office is treated as a subordinate branch of the Home and Hill Affairs Department, which is led by a principal secretary-level officer, while the CEO himself holds the rank of additional chief secretary.

The ECI has recommended that the CEO be vested with financial powers equivalent to those held by additional secretary, principal secretary, or secretary-level officers in other departments. It has also proposed the appointment of a separate Financial Advisor in the Election Department to assist the CEO in discharging official responsibilities effectively.

Additionally, the Commission has directed the state government to fill four key vacant posts — including those of additional CEO, joint CEO, and deputy CEOs — in consultation with the ECI, especially in view of the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections scheduled for next year.

Trinamool Congress has alleged that this move is a covert attempt to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The party claimed it is an effort to selectively remove opposition and minority voters from the rolls.

Just a day earlier, from the stage of the July 21 rally, the TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee had said: “The way the Election Commission is deleting names from the voter list, it amounts to a super emergency. If a single name from Bengal is removed, there will be a movement. If needed, we’ll bring down the regime in Delhi. We’ll protest in Delhi and gherao the Commission’s office.”