Kolkata, 8 December (H.S.): In a significant move to intensify surveillance over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has appointed five new Special Roll Observers across major administrative divisions in the state. The fresh appointments come shortly after the earlier designation of retired IAS officer Subrata Gupta to review the entire SIR process.

According to officials, the newly appointed observers will oversee critical stages of the SIR exercise, including the distribution, collection and digitisation of SIR forms, as well as scrutiny procedures ahead of the release of the draft voter list. The decision aims to prevent any lapses at any level of the workflow, ensuring a more stringent and error-free revision process.

The commission has assigned the following observers to division-wise jurisdictions:

Presidency Division — covering Kolkata, Howrah, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Nadia — will be supervised by Ravikant Singh.

Midnapore Division — comprising West Midnapore, East Midnapore, Jhargram, Bankura and Purulia — will be overseen by Neeraj Kumar Bansore.

Burdwan Division — including Birbhum, West Burdwan, East Burdwan and Hooghly — has been assigned to Krishnakumar Nirala.

Malda Division — covering Malda, Murshidabad, North Dinajpur and South Dinajpur — will be monitored by Alok Tiwari.

Jalpaiguri Division — comprising Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar — has been placed under the charge of Pankaj Yadav.

Earlier, Subrata Gupta had conducted statewide inspections to assess the execution of SIR-related tasks. With division-level appointments now in place, the ECI has strengthened its multi-tier monitoring mechanism to ensure greater accuracy and accountability in the revision of electoral rolls across West Bengal.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh