Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has fixed the multi-prong accountability of the District Magistrates (DMs), also the District Electoral Officers (DEOs), as regards to checking the authenticity of the supporting identity documents to be provided by the voters’ summoned for the ongoing hearing sessions on the claims and objections on the draft voters’ list which is a part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal.
The Deputy Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Bharati, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, and the other top ECI officials had a meeting with the DMs and the DEOs Tuesday, where accountabilities in the matter were fixed, and instructions accordingly were given.
A special app will be introduced for DMs and DEOs, through which they will conduct the final check of the authenticity of supporting identity documents, certify them and upload them.
“As already directed by the Commission, there will be two-level checking of the authenticity of the supporting documents, the first by that of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and the second through the DMs, also the DEOs. Now the Commission has decided to bring the DMs, also the DEOs, under a particular system in finally checking the authenticity and thereafter clearing those documents as authentic,” said sources in the CEO’s office.
Secondly, the DMs and DEOs will have to restrict themselves only to accepting the 13 identity documents specified by the Commission as valid identity documents.
In exceptional cases, the CEO’s office sources said, where alternative documents could be accepted as an identity document, the DEO concerned will have to take prior approval from the ECI.
At the same time, the DEOs have also been made accountable so that not a single booth-level agent (BLA) of any political party is allowed during hearing sessions on claims and objections on the draft voters’ list.
The DEOs have also been made accountable in case of any future incident of forcefully stopping the hearing process by any political leaders. The Commission had instructed the DEOs to personally reach the hearing venue in the future in case any such forceful stopping of the session is reported, as it had happened earlier in the day.
It is further learnt that in case the Commission, in due course, notices any forged document being cleared as a genuine document because of a deliberate overlooking factor, the DEOs concerned will be held accountable for that error.
In case of deliberate errors, the Commission’s observations might also hurt the Annual Confidential Report (ACR) of the clearing officials concerned.
The draft voters’ list was published December 16. The final voters’ list will be published February 14 next year. Soon after that, the ECI will announce the polling dates for the crucial Assembly elections in West Bengal, scheduled for next year.
