Bengal Assembly polls: ECI to hold meetings with Central and state agencies next month

Kolkata, Oct 14 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) will hold a meeting with the representatives of different Central and state security and investigative agencies next month to discuss the possible measures to be adopted for the crucial West Bengal Assembly elections scheduled next year, officials said on Tuesday.

The meeting is expected to be be conducted in the first week of November, and the likely place of the meeting will be the office of the west Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in Kolkata, insiders from the CEO's office said.

Besides, Central ECI representatives from New Delhi, the West Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal, and his subordinate officers, representatives from 22 Central and state security agencies are expected to participate in the meeting.

"Generally, the ECI conducts meetings with such agencies before any election, after the election dates are announced, and the model code of conduct is in place. However, considering the sensitivity of the Assembly elections in West Bengal scheduled next year, the Commission had decided to conduct a meeting with the agencies so early," said a CEO's office insider.

However, political observers feel that the decision to conduct the meeting might lead to yet another political uproar in the state, with Trinamool Congress likely to raise questions on how the Commission could hold such a meeting with the agencies under state government control before the model code of conduct is announced.

As per constitutional provisions, the ECI is the controlling authority of the security and investigative agencies, both Central and state, once the model code of conduct is introduced and continues to be so as long as the model code of conduct continues to be in force.

Earlier this month, a Central team of ECI was in West Bengal to review the preparedness of the special intensive revision (SIR) in the state, the announcement for which is expected soon.

During the visit, the Central ECI team gave clear instructions to the CEO's office that under no circumstances the ECI-mandate criteria regarding selection of electoral officers in the state, especially the booth-level officers (BLOs) and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), could be compromised.

--IANS

src/khz