EC appoints five new special roll observers for state
Times of India | 9 December 2025
Kolkata: The Election Commission (EC) on Friday appointed five new special roll observers for Bengal, in addition to Subrata Gupta, who was appointed as a SRO on Nov 30. All five newly appointed officials are senior IAS officers of joint secretary rank serving in various ministries in the Centre. According to the EC, these new observers have been assigned to one of five administrative divisions: Presidency, Midnapore, Malda, Jalpaiguri, and Burdwan.
For Bengal, 12 other state-cadre IAS officials were appointed as roll observers to supervise the districts. Gupta was asked to meet senior EC officials in Delhi on Monday. Kumar Ravi Kant Singh, a joint secretary in the ministry of defence, is assigned to the Presidency division. Meanwhile, Neeraj Kumar Bansore, who is a joint secretary in the home ministry, will oversee the Midnapore division, and Alok Tiwari, a joint secretary in the ministry of finance, will monitor the Malda division.
Pankaj Yadav, joint secretary in the ministry of rural development, will take charge of the Jalpaiguri division, and Krishna Kumar Nirala, joint secretary in the information ministry, has been entrusted with the Burdwan division. According to EC sources, the Commission appointed 18 Special Roll Observers across 12 states/UTs where the SIR exercise is currently ongoing.