EC full bench arrives in Bengal to review poll readiness
Kolkata: The full bench of the Election Commission of India (ECI), led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, reached the state on a three-day visit on Sunday evening to review election preparedness in West Bengal.
The delegation, which includes Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, will hold a series of meetings with political parties, administrative officials and law enforcement agencies to assess the state’s readiness for the upcoming elections.
On Monday, the full bench will meet representatives of recognised political parties in the state, followed by a briefing by Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal on election preparations. The commission members will subsequently make their remarks.
According to sources, the state CEO office will place a proposal before the full bench regarding publication of a supplementary list based on the disposal of the 60.06 lakh cases that are currently under adjudication by judicial officers. If approved by the commission, the list will be published. Till Saturday, nearly 8.5 lakh such cases had been verified and disposed of by judicial officers.
Later in the day, the commission will hold a meeting with various central and state law enforcement agencies to review security arrangements ahead of the polls. Heads of 24 agencies are expected to attend the meeting. Separate discussions will also be held with district magistrates and superintendents of police on election preparedness, which will continue till the evening.
On Tuesday, the commissioners will hold further meetings with the state administration. West Bengal Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty, acting Director General of Police Peeyush Pandey and other senior officials are expected to attend. A press conference is scheduled around 12.30 pm following the meetings. The full bench is slated to return to Delhi on Tuesday afternoon.
The Election Commission delegation also includes several senior officials such as 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.
