The Election Commission has urged the Bengal government to give financial and administrative independence to the state’s chief electoral officer (CEO) by creating a separate election department that it said was needed for the “effective and impartial conduct” of polls.
Sources said the EC wrote a letter to chief secretary Manoj Pant on July 17, saying Bengal was the only state where the CEO’s office functions as a wing of the home and hill affairs department. All other states have a separate election department headed by the CEO.
According to the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the CEO of a state is an autonomous authority and should not come under the home or finance department.
The letter holds both administrative and political significance as it comes at a time the poll panel is preparing to conduct a special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bengal. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has already objected to such an exercise.
In its letter, the EC has stressed the Bengal CEO’s “lack of financial and administrative autonomy”. It directed the chief secretary to take initiative for the “creation of a separate election department, completely delinked from any other department of the state government”.
“The election department should have a dedicated budget head. This will facilitate full financial and administrative autonomy to the CEO, as required for the effective and impartial conduct of elections,” the EC letter stated.
A state government official said that under the current system in Bengal, the CEO has to route requests for expenditure on infrastructure such as high-end CCTVs in poll booths through the home department. The home department forwards the request to the finance department, whose approval is crucial for the funds to be released.
A bureaucrat said on the condition of anonymity: “The system has some drawbacks. It is clear that the CEO would not be able to implement any decision independently....”
The bureaucrat added: “Once the CEO’s office is declared a separate election department, the CEO would have the financial authority to spend on infrastructure like other department secretaries, the majority of whom can spend up to ₹5 crore for a project”.
A separate department would also mean that the CEO’s office can make its own policies. Right now, it cannot issue any gazette notification or notice and has to depend on the home department.
“If the CEO’s office prepares a policy in accordance with the direction of the EC, it has to be sent to the home department first. The home department can ask the CEO to change some points or add some issues. This compromises the independence of the body that is responsible for holding elections in the state. Once it is a separate department, the CEO’s office can make its own policy and forward it to the EC,” the bureaucrat said.
A retired bureaucrat who used to work in the CEO’s office said a separate department would enable the poll panel to act independently.
“During elections, all government officers are on deputation to the Election Commission. But the CEO cannot issue the notification. He or she would have to depend on the home department to issue the order. Sometimes, particularly in bypolls, officials on deputation come late because the home department did not issue the notification on time. This affects poll preparedness,” said the bureaucrat.
A section of officials said a separate election department under the CEO would play a key role in conducting an SIR in the Bengal.
“The CEO’s office would have to spend a handsome amount to keep the exercise running. Also, it would have to take independent policy decisions in accordance with the directions of the EC. This is the reason why the EC is eager to make the CEO’s office an independent department, particularly after the ruling establishment has made it clear that it would oppose the move,” said a senior stategovernment official.
The SIR, currently underway in Bihar, has already sucked the EC into a controversy. Mamata has accused the poll panel of deleting lakhs of genuine voters from the electoral rolls in the neighbouring state and has threatened massive protests in Bengal if the exercise isconducted here.
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari has been consistently demanding “house-to-house surveys and SIR in the state” to weedout “infiltrators”.
Reacting to the EC letter, Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh said: “This is an administrative issue and we are not commenting on it right now. However, the party has been observing this issue from a political standpoint. Whatever the BJP and its associated agencies like the EC do in Bengal, the people of the state are determined to reject those.”