The Election Commission of India's initiative to appoint 1,000 data entry operators to assist booth-level officers (BLOs) in uploading filled-in enumeration forms has run into a hurdle as the Bengal government is yet to respond to the proposal sent by the poll panel about two weeks ago.

The EC decided to deploy data entry operators since many BLOs were finding it difficult to upload the forms to computers because of the workload and poor Internet connectivity.

The BLOs launched agitations at several places to point out the difficulties they were facing in uploading the filled-in enumeration forms. As the state government sits on the EC's proposal, discussions on whether the chief electoral officer's (CEO's) office should have financial as well as administrative autonomy have resurfaced.

On July 23 this year, the EC wrote to the Bengal chief secretary, urging the Mamata Banerjee government to declare the CEO's office a separate department. The EC claims that Bengal is the only state where the CEO's office doesn't have financial and administrative autonomy.

The Mamata Banerjee dispensation did not accept the EC's proposal, saying that the government would deploy a financial advisor — a financial department official who screens all expenditure proposals and sends files directly to the finance department. Justifying the move, a senior Bengal government official said there were one or two other states where the CEO's office did not enjoy the autonomy the EC demanded.

“The CEO's office had proposed to appoint 1,000 data entry operators for a period of two to three months through an agency by floating an e-tender. But Nabanna did not respond to the proposal. As a result, the BLOs were facing trouble uploading filled-in enumeration forms, as many of them are not tech savvy, while those living in remote areas of the state are struggling with poor Internet connectivity,” said a senior official in the CEO's office in Calcutta.

EC sources said that had the state government declared the CEO's office, which at present works as a wing of the state home department, as a separate department, the data entry operators could have been appointed by now, and the BLOs would have been spared the burden.

“If it were a separate department, the CEO's office could have floated the tender independently, and there would have been no need to secure the approval from Nabanna. Furthermore, like any other department, the CEO — as the secretary of the department — could have the liberty to spend a sum of ₹5 crore without seeking any approval. With these funds, the process of recruiting the data entry operators could have been started,” said a source on the poll panel.

“Now it has become clear that placing a financial advisor would not give the autonomy that the EC was seeking for the CEO's office.... If it were a separate department, the CEO could have floated the tender,” said a source.

None in the state government was ready to comment on the issue, but a senior official said that the top brass of the government was considering the proposal, and an appropriate step would be taken as and when necessary.

A section of the BLOs alleged that, as there was no one to assist them, they were facing difficulties uploading the filled-in enumeration forms.

“On average, each of the BLOs has to collect 1,000 filled-in enumeration forms. After collecting these forms, we have to upload each of the forms to the BLO app using cellphones. It is a huge task, and it is getting difficult for many as they don't know the proper use of smartphones and because of the weak Internet connections,” said a BLO.

Sources on the poll panel said that if the data entry operators were appointed, each block could have had three experts to assist the BLOs.

“As they would have been posted in the block offices where a strong wifi network is in place, the work could have been done easily and the stress of the BLOs could have been eased,” said an official.