Bengal chief electoral officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal has written to chief secretary Manoj Pant, asking the latter to furnish the details of the work carried out under assured minimum facilities (AMF) at each polling station in the state so far in an apparent bid to prevent misuse of public money in the name of facilities ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls.

The CEO's letter dated October 13, sources in Nabanna said, assumed significance as this was the first time when expenditure under the AMF has come under the Election Commission's scrutiny.

“The cumulative expenditure for arranging AMF during 2019, 2021 and 2024, works of permanent nature undertaken Polling Station wise along with defect liability period for each such work needs to be ascertained to prevent duplication,” reads Agarwal's letter to the chief secretary.

Sources aware of the development said that under AMF, the state government used to take up work of a permanent nature like setting up of ramps for physically challenged persons, toilets and pathways in each of the booths along with several other awareness generation programmes. Proper illumination in the booths are also a part of the AMF programme.

Sources in Nabanna said the contents of Agarwal's letter suggested that the EC wanted to be sure that no public money was misused in the name of developing infrastructure in the booths ahead of every election.

“The work of permanent nature should last at least for a few elections as the premises where the work is carried out continue to be used as polling booths in all elections. Though the expenditure under the AMF is shouldered by the state government, the image of the EC would be tarnished if funds are misused. This is the reason why the poll panel wants to be sure that no funds are misused,” said a bureaucrat.

Sources explained that the state government spent on an average ₹500 crore in the 2019, 2021 and 2024 elections, two general and one state, for developing infrastructure in the booths. That is why the EC believes that required facilities in most of the 80,000-odd booths of the state have already been developed.

“If there was no assured minimum facility in the booths, how were elections held in the past? It means that these facilities are in place and it is expected that minimum expenditure is required for new facilities in Bengal ahead of the 2026 polls,” said a source.

Sources in the EC said that there was scope for duplication in the work of building facilities as there was no record at the CEO's office about AMF work done in the past elections.

“This is why the CEO's office has taken an initiative to prepare a database of each booth in the state. The database will be uploaded on the website of the Bengal CEO along with all the facilities available in a particular booth and corresponding photographs,” said a source.

A section of the officials held that the database of booths was proposed as funds had been misused in previous elections in the name of AMF.

“To cite an instance, the EC has come to know that in some booths of Jhargram, 125 KV generators were engaged to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply to booths. It is a gross misuse of funds as generators with 5KV capacity are good enough for a booth. This gives a signal that funds were misused. The EC wants to be sure that henceforth public money is not misused in the name of AMF,” said a bureaucrat.