With the December 4 deadline for the month-long SIR process in West Bengal approaching, the Election Commission of India is sending out a strong message that it will not be cowed down by intimidation tactics to halt the electoral revision process.
The office of West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal will be shifted to a different and more secure location in wake of the breach in security on Monday and Tuesday where protesting Booth Level Officers (BLOs) attempted to break the locks of the gate and barge into the premises. The order came from ECI on Friday, two days after the apex polling body wrote to Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Pandey to ensure strict security of the CEO and other senior officials. This included security for senior officials from their residence to the office.
“Based on recent incidents relating to breach of security at the office of CEO WB, ECI has directed the office to be shifted to a security appropriate location. ECI has also directed Kolkata Police Commissioner to ensure complete security of the existing as well as the new office of CEO WB,” said a senior official from the state EC.
#WATCH | Delhi | TMC delegation reaches the Election Commission for a meeting over the SIR in West Bengal pic.twitter.com/KdMkg5qYlR
— ANI (@ANI) November 28, 2025
In addition to this, ECI has also directed all District Electoral Officers (DEO) to ensure new polling stations in slums, high rise buildings and gated residential colonies as is being done across India based on ECI instructions. This was a request by many housing complexes to assist citizens in the SIR process.
ECI also took the decision on Friday to appoint retired IAS officer Subrata Gupta as Special Roll Observer to overseas smooth functioning of the SIR process in West Bengal.
In an attempt to increase communication between polling parties to address the concerns on SIR, West Bengal CEO has said that political parties can seek an appointment with Agarwal and members in the delegation also need to be mentioned in advance as well.
A 10-member delegation of MPs from Trinamool Congress (TMC) met Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Friday in Delhi to address concerns over SIR, including deaths reported of citizens fearing the process and BLOs who were under tremendous pressure in West Bengal.
ECI told the AITC delegation that the preparation of electoral rolls as well as the elections are held in a fully transparent manner as per the Constitution and electoral law. It added that the state government should disburse the enhanced honorarium for BLOs and EROs as approved by the ECI.
The ECI pointed out that while political rhetoric is their prerogative, they should refrain from spreading misinformation related to the election procedures.
