The Election Commission of India appointed on September 29 an additional chief electoral officer and a joint chief electoral officer for Bengal from the panel of IAS officers sent by the state government.
However, the poll panel has asked the state to send a fresh panel of three officers for the post of the deputy chief electoral officer.
The EC on September 29 appointed S. Arun Prasad, the Nadia district magistrate, as the additional chief electoral officer, and Harishankar Panicker, the special secretary, finance department, as the joint chief electoral officer.
Both the bureaucrats would be posted in the chief electoral officer’s office in Calcutta to assist the chief election officer.
The appointments will strengthen the administrative structure in the CEO’s office ahead of the proposed special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls, a source said.
“The appointments are crucial as it would help the CEO’s office with more officers at the top to undertake the SIR. As the SIR is a huge task, the CEO will require more officers to complete the work in an efficient manner. Both the officers appointed in the CEO’s office are known to be very upright. They are fit for the posts,” said a senior official aware of the development.
The posts of additional CEO and joint CEO had been lying vacant for the past two years or so.
The EC recently asked the state government to send a panel of officers for both
the positions.
For the post of additional CEO, the state government had recommended three IAS officers. Prasad apart, the two others were non-conventional energy secretary Y. Ratnakara Rao and science and technology secretary Godala
Kiran Kumar.
Similarly, the state had recommended three officers for the post of joint CEO. Panicker apart, the others were Saddam Navas, the ADM of South 24-Parganas, and Sevale Abhijit Tukaram, the special secretary of animal resources development department.
Deputy CEO names
Although the EC selected one officer each from the panel sent by the state for the posts of additional CEO and joint CEO, it rejected the list sent by the state government for the post of deputy CEO.
“The state was asked to send a panel of three WBCS (executive) officers for the post of the deputy CEO. The state had sent names of Bhaskar Pal, the additional district magistrate of South 24-Parganas, Tania Parveen, the GM of West Bengal Minorities’ Development and Finance Commission, and Rizwan Ahmad, the DM & DC of Chandannagore, Hooghly, for the post,” said a senior bureaucrat.
“But none of them was selected by the EC as the poll panel wanted officers with more election-related work experience,” the bureaucrat added.
The poll panel asked the state to send fresh recommendations for the post of the deputy CEO.
“The EC has made it clear that the state should send a fresh panel of three officers with substantial experience in election-related work,” the bureaucrat said.