The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday ordered the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (WBCEO) to shift the election office in Kolkata to a safer location. The decision comes just days after a “serious security breach,” during which a group of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) allegedly “gheraoed” the CEO and his staff inside the building.
A senior ECI official said, “Based on recent incidents relating to breach of security at the office of the CEO in West Bengal, ECI has directed the office to be shifted to a secured location. ECI also directed the Kolkata Police Commissioner to ensure complete security of the CEO’s existing and new office.”
Security Directions for Police
The Commission has also instructed the West Bengal Director General of Police and the Kolkata Police Commissioner to safeguard the CEO’s office and ensure that political parties do not intimidate booth-level workers.
TMC Delegation Raises Death Claims
While this was happening, a 10-member Trinamool Congress (TMC) delegation met Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi. They claimed that at least 40 people — including some BLOs — had died due to fear and excessive workload during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list in the state. The team submitted a list of names to the CEC.
Derek O’Brien, who leads the TMC in the Rajya Sabha, said, “We handed over to him (CEC) a list of around 40 dead because of the SIR process while sharing all the details. We started the meeting by telling him that the CEC and the ECI have blood on their hands.”
The delegation included five Lok Sabha MPs and five Rajya Sabha MPs, and the meeting lasted nearly two hours. “We raised five questions. Kumar spoke for around one hour. We didn’t get an answer to any of our five questions,” O’Brien said.
ECI Rejects Allegations
A senior ECI official stated that the poll body responded in detail to every concern and rejected each “baseless” allegation made by the TMC. He also said the Commission asked the TMC not to put pressure on BLOs during their duties.
According to the official, the Commission has asked the TMC to submit claims or objections only after December 9, once the draft electoral list is released. Until then, the party must not interfere with the work of BLOs, EROs and DEOs, who are state government employees assigned to election duties.
The official added that the state government had still not paid the revised honorarium for BLOs that the ECI had approved.
TMC Accuses ECI of Hiding Information
TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee accused the Election Commission of spreading misleading information. He wrote on X:
“The Election Commission is deliberately planting selective leaks to falsely claim that they have provided a point-by-point rebuttal to the issues raised by the AITC delegation today. These assertions are not just misleading, they are OUTRIGHT LIES. If the EC truly has nothing to hide and actually believes in transparency, then instead of hiding behind motivated leaks, it must immediately release the full CCTV footage and every piece of evidence it claims to possess. Anything less only exposes their bad faith and raises serious questions about their intent.”
Background to the Clash
The controversy follows two letters sent earlier this month by chief minister Mamata Banerjee to the CEC. In her first letter, she demanded that the SIR exercise be paused, calling it an unplanned and coercive process. In her second, she objected to the use of private data entry operators and to polling stations being set up inside private housing complexes.
TMC MP Derek O’Brien echoed this view, saying, “The TMC is not opposed to the concept of SIR. We are strongly opposed to the unplanned manner in which the ECI is going about the job. It is completely unplanned and heartless.”
BJP Responds
West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya countered the TMC’s charges, saying, “The TMC should first publish the list of TMC workers who were killed in the past few years and say who has blood on their hands. It can’t be that the CEC will make some statements from Delhi and the situation in West Bengal will be completely different. The CEC has to come down to West Bengal. He has to take stock of the ground situation here. He can’t just send some representatives and take deputations sitting in Delhi.”
