Kolkata, Sep 26: The West Bengal BJP has fired off a complaint to State Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal, alleging that some block development officers (BDOs) are bullying their staff into ditching election duties. These staff members serve as booth-level officers (BLOs), roles assigned by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to keep things fair during voter list updates.
In their letter, BJP leaders point out that certain BDOs are phoning permanent state government employees tapped for BLO jobs. They’re pushing these workers to send letters saying they’re unwilling to take on the duties. The party says this pressure comes straight from higher-ups, and it’s messing with the whole point of picking reliable permanent staff for these spots.
“This kind of interference hurts the transparency, fairness, and honesty of the ECI’s Special Intensive Revision of voter lists across India,” the BJP wrote. They’re worried it could undermine the national push for clean elections in West Bengal.
The BJP also accuses the state government of a sneaky plan to sideline permanent employees and swap them out for temporary, contractual workers as BLOs. To fight back, they’ve handed over a list of permanent state staff who haven’t been assigned BLO roles yet. On top of that, they’re proposing 1,898 more permanent employees to replace the temps currently handling these duties in various assembly seats.
Why the push for permanents? The BJP argues these full-time government workers are less likely to face threats or arm-twisting from local officials, helping protect the integrity of booth-level election work in West Bengal.
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