Kolkata: The full bench of the Election Commission of India (ECI) will arrive in West Bengal on the night of March 8 for a three-day visit to review election preparedness in the state.
The delegation will be led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and will include Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. The commissioners will hold meetings with political parties, administrative officials and law enforcement agencies to assess the state’s readiness for the upcoming elections.
According to the schedule, the full bench will arrive in Kolkata on Sunday night. On Monday, the commissioners will meet representatives of recognised political parties in the state, followed by a briefing by Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal on election preparations. The commission members will then make their observations.
Later in the day, the commission will meet with central and state law enforcement agencies to review security arrangements ahead of the polls. Heads of 24 agencies are expected to attend. Separate discussions will also be held with district magistrates and superintendents of police on election preparedness. On Tuesday, the commissioners will hold meetings with the state administration. Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty, acting Director General of Police Peeyush Pandey and other senior officials will attend a meeting scheduled at 10.30 a.m. From 12.30 p.m., the commissioners will interact with Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to review grassroots-level arrangements. The delegation will also include several senior officials, including Senior Deputy Commissioners Manish Garg, Pawan Kumar Sharma and Gyanesh Bharti, Director General Ashish Goel, Principal Secretary S.B. Joshi, Director Manoj C, Deputy Secretary Abhinav Agarwal, Deputy Director P. Pawan and Secretary Apoorva Kumar Singh. A press conference is likely to be held after the meetings. The full bench is scheduled to return to Delhi on Tuesday afternoon.
According to Commission sources, judicial officers examining cases of logical discrepancies in the electoral roll have disposed of over 4.5 lakh disputed voter entries in West Bengal till Wednesday evening, while more than 56 lakh cases remain pending. The full bench is expected to review the status and issue instructions to fast-track their disposal.