CEO seeks officials’ lists from central depts, banks
Times of India | 21 December 2025
Kolkata: Bengal chief electoral officer Manoj Agarwal on Saturday held a meeting with heads of 16 central govt organisations, departments, PSUs and nationalised banks and sought a list of officers, to be deployed as micro-observers for the Bengal SIR exercise.
Close to 3,500 micro-observers will be present at the SIR hearings and monitor the work of EROs and AEROs, who will conduct the hearings. They would help in the preparation of error-free electoral rolls in Bengal, the commission said.
The list would be sent to the CEO office on Sunday following which micro-observers would be appointed, a senior EC official said on Saturday. "Those who attended the meeting were asked to provide a list of officers. All central organisations, departments, PSUs and nationalised banks will send their officials' names to the CEO office by Sunday. Micro-observers will be selected from the lists," the official added.
Micro-observers, once appointed, will receive training in two batches at Nazrul Mancha on Dec 24.
This is the first time in India that micro-observers will be deployed for an SIR exercise in any state or UT.
BLOs, EROs and AEROs on Saturday held a meeting with the DEO of Kolkata South in Alipore, where BLOs were apprised about the hearings to be held for unmapped voters and those with logical discrepancies on their forms.