SIR in Bengal: ECI to appoint 2,000 additional micro-observers for hearing sessions

Kolkata, Jan 12 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI), on Monday, had decided to appoint 2,000 micro-observers supervising the hearing session on claims and objections regarding the draft voters' list in West Bengal.
 

These 2,000 micro-observers will be in addition to the 4,500 micro-observers already appointed by the Commission to supervise the hearing session. 

Like the previous appointment, these 2,000 additional micro-observers will be appointed from among direct Central government staff or staff from central public sector undertaking or public sector banks, from the Group-B and Group A categories, an insider from the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) confirmed.

The concept of micro-observers is exclusive in the case of West Bengal, among the other states and Union Territories where parallel Special Intensive Revisions (SIRs) are being conducted.

The decision to appoint 2,000 additional micro-observers is being taken considering the huge numbers of voters being issued notices for hearing under the two categories of "unmapped" and "logical discrepancy" cases.

Recently, the ECI has cautioned the micro-observers in West Bengal of strong disciplinary action in case of any deliberate deviation from the ECI-prescribed standard operating procedure (SOP) for them. 

Last week, the ECI announced appointments of four additional special roll observers for the state, and one of the two main assignments for them is to review the performance of the micro-observers at the hearing sessions.

Meanwhile, the CEO's office also told on Monday that appropriate legal actions would be initiated against certain individuals who have made the mobile number of West Bengal CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal, public through social media.

An insider from the CEO's office said that recently, some unsolicited messages and phone calls had been coming to the mobile number of the CEO. 

Later, the CEO's office traced that his number was circulated through Facebook, and the CEO's office was able to trace those Facebook accounts through which CEO Agarwal's mobile number was circulated.

--IANS

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