80 micro-observers to join CEO’s office, aid in analysis of voter lists
Times of India | 18 January 2026
Kolkata: Bengal chief electoral officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal will deploy 80 micro-observers to assist the four observers who joined the CEO's office recently for analysing the voters' list of the state. Senior IAS officers Ratan Biswas, Vikas Singh, Sandeep Rewaji Rathod and Dr Sailesh have joined as observers.
The micro-observers are mostly from Kolkata and its suburbs. Most of them are women Group B officers of the central govt. They will be posted at the CEO's office, which is likely to shift to the Shipping Corporation building in a week. They will aid in data analysis of enumeration forms and help spot discrepancies.
This comes at a time when a number of central govt agencies have already lodged complaints with the Election Commission (EC) over staff shortages due to election-related duties. An ordnance factory in Bengal has written to the EC that it was facing a severe shortage of officials, making running daily administration difficult.
Agarwal said micro-observers would be looking at voter details. One micro-observer will be expected to certify the data from one booth a day. A total of 2,000 micro-observers will analyse data of 80,000-plus booths in 40 days and more micro-observers may be deployed if the need arises, the CEO said.