2026 Bengal Assembly polls: ECI to define role of central, state security agencies in Nov

Kolkata, Oct 17 (IANS) The process of defining the roles of different security and intelligence agencies, both Central and state, for the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls will be completed by the year-end.

The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, has already sent communications to 22 such Central and state agencies seeking the names of officers from these agencies for the polls next year by October 30.

Upon receiving the names of the proposed nodal officers from these agencies, the CEO of West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, will hold meetings with these nodal officers next month, where he will define the roles of the agencies for the upcoming elections, insiders from the CEO’s office said.

Defining the roles of different state and Central security agencies is a part of the preparatory process before any election. However, insiders from the CEO’s office said, generally, this process is initiated and completed after the elections are announced and the model code of conduct is in force.

“However, considering the sensitivity of the Assembly elections in West Bengal scheduled next year, the ECI had decided to initiate and complete the process so early,” said a source in the CEO’s office.

It is learnt that the two aspects for the West Bengal Assembly elections next year that are especially under focus for the Election Commission of India (ECI) are the pre-poll security aspects in the sensitive pockets of the state, especially those close to the international borders, and the expenditures in the pre-poll campaigning by different political parties and candidates.

The CEO's office insiders said that the ECI this time wants to conduct extra surveillance against the offering and distribution of cash and liquor, among others, to allure voters.

Already, the political heat in West Bengal is at its peak, especially over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state, the announcement for which is expected any time from now.

Earlier this month, a central team of ECI was in West Bengal to review the preparedness of the SIR in the state. During the visit, the central ECI team gave clear instructions to the CEO’s office that under no circumstances could ECI-mandated criteria regarding the selection of electoral officers in the state, especially the booth-level officers (BLOs) and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), be compromised.

--IANS

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