Bengal list of officers under EC scanner for SIR duties
Telegraph | 10 February 2026
The Bengal government on Monday evening sent a list of 8,505 "Group B" officers to the Election Commission to engage them in duties related to the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter list but the list is likely to be scrutinised heavily as the poll panel apprehended that many were not group B officers as directed by the Supreme Court.
"The list included several lower division clerks, typists, amins and bhumi sahayaks, who are usually group C employees. The list will be scrutinised before engaging them in the roles of AEROs or allowing them to assist the EROs like the micro-observers," said a senior EC official.
According to sources the list included several employees who were usually in the pay scale of 7 and 8, which were for group C employees.
"Employees who are in the pay scale of 9 to 11 are known to be Group B officers. Usually employees in the rank of upper division clerks and above are in the Group B category. From pay scale 12 onwards, all are group A officers," said a source on the poll panel.
Now, sources said that it would a Herculean task to check credentials of all the officers whose names are on the list.
"The list for which scruitiny would be done can be cut short and checking can be done for those only who are in the rank of below upper division clerks. Right now, it is not possible to say how many employees in the list are in the lower division clerks category or below the ranks of upper division clerks," said an official.
A senior official said that if it was found following scruitiny that a number of employees in the list sent by the state government were not group B officers, the poll panel could draw attention of the Supreme Court as it would be "contempt of court".
Contacted a senior state government official said he would not comment on this as he did not get through the entire list.
"The DMs sent the names after Nabanna asked them to send a list of Group B officers in their respective districts. Usually lower division clerks or typists are not considered to be Group B officers. Now, it has to be checked whether they have reached the pay scale 9 but remained in the LDC or typist rank by any means," said the official.
The EC would take initiatives to conduct a two-days training for the Group B officers who would report to the EROs on Tuesday.
"If found suitable, some of them would be appointed as AEROs to complete hearings or upload documents to complete the exercise on time...," said an official.
A retired bureaucrat said that the poll panel should check the pay slips of the suspected employees on the list as the ruling party would try to insert their men in the system so that the exercise could be manipulated.