Office of the Election Commission of India.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Kolkata: The Election Commission on Wednesday wrote to Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma over the protest by a section of BLOs at the West Bengal CEO's office, calling it a "serious security breach", and sought an action taken report within 48 hours.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, blamed the "arrogance" of the EC for the long siege by protestors at the CEO's office.
In the letter, EC secretary Sujeet Kumar Mishra said the existing security at the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal appeared to be inadequate to handle the situation.
Alleging "excessive work pressure" and "unmanageable workload" due to the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, a section of booth-level officers (BLOs) held a 30-hour demonstration outside the CEO's office till Tuesday evening.
"The existing security in the office of the CEO appeared to be inadequate to handle the situation, which could lead to a threat to the safety and security of the Chief Electoral Officer, Joint Chief Electoral Officers, Deputy Chief Electoral Officers and other officers and staff working in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer," the EC said in the letter, a copy of which was marked to the chief secretary, state home secretary and the DGP.
Stating that it has taken a "serious view of the incident", the EC directed the police to take all possible measures to ensure the safety and security of officers and staff "posted in the office of the CEO, at their residences and while commuting to and fro".
"The Commission further directs that adequate security classification shall be done on account of the sensitivity involved due to SIR activities and forthcoming elections in the State, and ensure that no untoward incident occurs again," it said.
Speaking to reporters after garlanding the statue of BR Ambedkar at the Red Road on the occasion of Constitution Day, CM Banerjee apparently referred to the CEO as 'khudey kursibabu' (junior chairholder), and questioned why the BLOs were made to wait for hours outside his office just to put forth their concerns.
"BLOs are perishing under work pressure not just in Bengal but also in states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. I think that the demands of these officers are just and legitimate. Why did they have to sit for 48 hours to get an audience with the CEO? Is there no value in their time?" she asked.
Maintaining that BLOs are facing server issues that are stopping them from uploading voters' data in a timely manner, Banerjee reiterated the need to plan the SIR exercise for a period of three years instead of the current two-month deadline.
"After waiting outside for two days, they first called one representative inside. Upon police request, they later called two more. Why is this a show of arrogance? Do people have the right to register their complaints or not?" she asked.