Kolkata, India – As West Bengal gears up for the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists at the end of October, the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) office is getting a boost with two key new appointments.
Arun Prasad, a 2011-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the West Bengal cadre, steps in as the new Additional CEO. Joining him is Panicker Harishankar, a 2013-batch IAS officer, who takes on the role of Joint CEO.
An official from the CEO’s office confirmed that current CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal got the green light from ECI headquarters in Delhi for these moves. This comes at a crucial time, with the SIR set to verify and update voter rolls across the state.
But not everything is settled yet. The Deputy CEO position remains up in the air. The ECI has asked the West Bengal government to nominate three experienced bureaucrats for the job – ideally from the West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS) cadre with a track record in election duties. They’ll pick one from that shortlist.
The SIR process has sparked heated political debates in West Bengal. The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) slams it as a sneaky move by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the central government to push something like the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state.
BJP leaders fire back, accusing TMC of blocking the revision to protect illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators from getting scrubbed from the voters’ list.
West Bengal last ran a SIR back in 2022, and this round could play a big role in upcoming elections by cleaning up the rolls. With these new leaders on board, the CEO office aims to push forward amid the tensions.
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