Kolkata: Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday wrote to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Bharti, accusing the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of issuing a “questionable” request for proposal (RfP) to outsource key election-related data work, and asked whether the move was made “under pressure from a political party”.
Banerjee also flagged the alleged move to consider setting up polling stations inside private residential complexes.
Banerjee said she was “constrained” to approach the CEC after learning that the CEO’s office had instructed District Election Officers (DEOs) not to use their existing contractual data entry operators or Bangla Sahayata Kendra (BSK) staff for SIR-related activities. Instead, she said, the CEO has floated an RfP to hire 1000 data entry operators and 50 software developers for a year.
Questioning why an external agency was required when district offices already had experienced personnel, she wrote: “Traditionally, field offices have always hired their own personnel as per requirement. If there is an urgent need, DEOs are fully empowered to undertake such hiring themselves. Why then is the CEO’s office assuming this role? What substantive difference is expected between those already engaged and those to be hired through the agency? Is this exercise being undertaken at the behest of a political party to serve vested interests?”
She said the timing and manner of the RfP “certainly raise legitimate doubts”.
On the reported consideration of setting up polling stations inside private housing complexes, Banerjee said the proposal was “deeply problematic”. Such venues, she wrote, are generally avoided as they “compromise fairness, violate established norms, and create discriminatory distinctions between privileged residents and the general public”. She again questioned whether the move was being taken “under pressure from a political party to advance their partisan interests”.
“The implications of such a decision would have severe impact on the fairness of the electoral process,” she wrote.
Banerjee urged the Commission to examine the issues with “seriousness, impartiality and transparency”, saying the neutrality and credibility of the poll body must remain “above reproach”.
Responding to Banerjee’s letter, Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal said he was implementing policy decisions taken by the Election Commission of India.
“The SIR has been done in Bihar and a tender was floated to hire data entry operators. The ECI has directed us to follow the same process, so a tender has been floated here also and sent to the Finance Department for approval,” Agarwal said.