Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday said that the Commission’s full bench, which will visit West Bengal for a two-day tour next week, will have a packed schedule.
According to the schedule, the full bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar will arrive in Kolkata on the night of March 8. Over the next two days — March 9 and March 10 — the Commission will review both the ongoing process of judicial adjudication of voters’ documents classified under the “logical discrepancy” category and the preparedness for the forthcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal later this year.
An insider from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, said that on March 9 the Commission’s full bench will hold meetings with representatives of different registered political parties from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, with each party being allotted 10 minutes.
“At around 12.30 p.m., the CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal will give a presentation to the Commission’s full bench on the situation relating to judicial adjudication and poll preparedness. The presentation will last for around 30 minutes,” the CEO’s office insider said.
Thereafter, between 1.15 p.m. and 1.30 p.m. on March 9, the Commission’s full bench will hold a meeting with representatives of different security and investigating agencies, both from the state and the Centre.
“Approximately 24 agencies will be represented at the meeting, along with district magistrates and district police superintendents,” the CEO’s office insider said, adding that the day’s schedule will conclude with that meeting.
On March 10, the Commission’s full bench will hold meetings with top bureaucrats and senior police officers of the state government, including Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty and the state’s acting Director General of Police Peeyush Pandey.
“That meeting will start at 10 a.m. and is expected to continue for around 10 hours. After that, the Commission’s full bench will meet electoral registration officers, assistant electoral registration officers and booth-level officers,” the CEO’s office insider said.
The Commission’s full bench will return to Delhi later on March 10.
(IANS)
