Bengal poll preparations begin, parties demand error-free electoral roll

The focus of the meeting was on ensuring a robust mechanism for accurate revision of electoral roll before Bengal assembly election 2021.

Political parties in West Bengal have urged the Election Commission of India on Monday to prepare an error-free electoral roll, including the names of migrant workers who have returned to the state during the pandemic, ahead of the crucial state assembly elections in 2021.

The state’s chief electoral officer (CEO) held an all-party meeting on Monday afternoon to discuss poll preparations in the times of Covid-19, virtually setting the ball rolling for the 2021 assembly polls in the state.

“We have urged the ECI to prepare an error-free electoral roll and ensure that all electors are able to cast their votes in a hassle-free manner despite the pandemic. The migrant workers who have returned or want to return shouldn’t be left out,” said Partha Chatterjee, minister and secretary general of the ruling Trinamool Congress.

The summary revision of the electoral roll is expected to kick start from November 18 and will continue till mid-December. The final roll would be published on January 15, 2021, said an official.

Political parties have pointed out that the booth level officers (BLOs), who are supposed to sit in the state’s 78,900-odd booths, where electors can go for addition, deletion and correction of their particulars in the voter list, remain absent most of the time.

“BLOs are expected to remain present in the booths between 12 noon and 3 pm on the eight special campaign days that have been organized in November and December. But we have urged the CEO to fix the timing as to when BLOs will be available in the booths beyond those special dates. People often complain that BLOs were not present,” said Robin Deb, veteran CPI(M) leader.

He added that in districts such as Malda and Murshidabad, people are often rendered homeless because of flooding and land erosion. These persons should not be left out of the electoral roll.

Congress leader Soumya Aich Roy also raised the issue of BLOs. “In multiple cases it has been seen that BLOs are absent at the booths and the district administration justifies their absence claiming electors don’t turn up with requests for addition or deletion. Hence we have urged the ECI to fix a time when the BLOs would be available at the booths,” said.

Representatives of the political parties have also urged the ECI to ensure that only permanent government employees, who could be held accountable, are appointed as BLOs. As it is the pandemic year and BLOs can fall ill, a substitute should be assigned for each of the 78,900 BLOs.

The CEO is expected to hold a meeting with the district officials on November 11 to take stock of the poll preparations and for summary revision.

The BJP, however, has raised apprehensions over the state machinery which would be used for the summary revision and compared it with Bihar, where they said elections have been peaceful.

“The ECI will have to rely on the state machinery and we know the pressure under which the state government’s employees work. The BLOs hardly remain present in the booths. Even though the BLOs should be permanent employees, the state government appoints contractual employees for the task. Complaints go unheard,” said Jayprakash Majumdar, state BJP’s vice president.

If the voter list is not error-free then the elections would not be free and fair, the political parties said.