What’s Behind the Election Commission's Review of I-PAC's Data-Entry Operators in West Bengal?
Election Commission Scrutinizes I-PAC's Staff Appointments
Kolkata: In light of the recent Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids at the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) office and the home of co-founder Pratik Jain, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has opted to review allegations regarding I-PAC personnel being designated as data-entry operators during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, despite being presented as contractual state employees.
Sources within the Chief Electoral Officer's (CEO) office in West Bengal revealed that the commission plans to conduct random checks on the backgrounds of these contractual employees assigned as data-entry operators in the current revision process.
The ECI is particularly focused on verifying police clearance reports, which are required to be completed before these individuals can be appointed as data-entry operators, in accordance with ECI regulations.
Given the critical nature of the clerical tasks performed by these operators in the revision process, the commission is taking the complaints regarding I-PAC staff appointments very seriously.
Data-entry operators are responsible for manually entering voter enumeration details collected by Booth-Level Officers (BLOs) and submitted to the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs).
Mistakes, whether accidental or intentional, at this stage could significantly affect the final decision regarding voters' names on the final electoral roll. There have already been reports of incorrect entries during the enumeration phase, which caused issues for some voters.
Thus, insiders from the CEO's office indicated that the commission is prioritizing the re-evaluation of the backgrounds of these contractual employees assigned as data-entry operators.
The draft voters' list for West Bengal was released on December 16 of the previous year, with the final list set to be published on February 14 of the upcoming year. Following this, the ECI will announce polling dates for the important Assembly elections scheduled for next year.