EC conducts day-long training session for Bengal poll officers
Times of India | 27 July 2025
Kolkata: With Trinamool raising its pitch against any special intensive revision (SIR) of voter rolls in Bengal and Parliament paralysed over opposition's offensive against the exercise in Bihar, the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Bengal conducted a day-long training session involving nearly 1,000 officers of Presidency Division at Nazrul Mancha on Saturday.
The training of assistant election registration officers (AEROs), supervisors and booth level officers (BLOs) covered various aspects of the electoral process.
Officials from several districts — including Kolkata, Howrah, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Nadia — participated in the programme. These officials will play a key role in managing the electoral process in at least 108 assembly segments.
The CEO's office has held similar training programmes in East Burdwan and Malda. After Kolkata, the sessions will be conducted in Midnapore and Jalpaiguri. Earlier, a section of BLO officers was trained in New Delhi.
The training assumes significance in light of the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, which is scheduled to go to polls later this year. The Bengal assembly elections are scheduled in mid-2026.
"This is a day-long programme where we are imparting training on various aspects like voter enumeration, use of electoral apps and other related procedures," said a senior official from the Bengal CEO's office. "Many participants at the programme have been recently appointed and this was their first training session," he added.
On Friday, CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal said that similar trainings were never conducted before. "Whether it is summary revision or SIR, this training will help BLOs," he had said.