In a clear testimony of Election Commission’s impression of Bengal’s law and order situation the national poll panel is dispatching five groups of special observers, each headed by a Chief Electoral Officer of a State. It has also ordered videographing of CRPF route marches. It also ordered the immediate transfer of 35 officials including four Superintendents of Police and a District Magistrate.
The decision comes close on the heels of the full Bench of the Commission touring Bengal last week.
Responsible for supervising the State administrative machinery's handling of the electoral process the elite groups will soon go around the State, ECI sources said adding the group of special observers would work in addition to the police observers whose number has been doubled from what it was in 2011.
Earlier the Commission while taking stock of the situation had severely reprimanded four IPS and a couple of IAS officers for their biased handling of affairs and had asked them to “pull up your socks before the Commission was forced to take appropriate measures.”
Sending five groups of special observers under a CEO each was an “unprecedented decision even by UP and Bihar standards let alone Bengal,” said a retired Additional Director General of Police adding “the decision itself shows that the ECI has no faith in the State administrative machinery.”
The poll panel has also directed the administration to put the Central forces to full use so that they do not sit idle like it happened in the 2014 General elections. “The Commission has asked to take the CRPF to interior areas and not confine the route march to the main roads only” said an official adding all the route marches had to be videographed.
"A police officer will accompany the Central forces and after reaching a locality they will announce in loudspeakers of their arrival and ask the voters to come out and vote fearlessly" the ECI official said adding each posse of the central force will have at least 2-3 Bengali-speaking jawans. Mobile phone numbers will also be provided by the marching contingent for the voters to make contact in case of urgency.The strong measures of the ECI tended to show results with the police making some arrests and recovering crude bombs.