Election duty leaves banks, offices empty in North Bengal
Telegraph | 29 April 2026
The Election Commission’s decision to engage hundreds of north Bengal-based central government employees for polling duty on Wednesday during the second and final phase of the Assembly elections in Calcutta and six south Bengal districts has led to fears that regular work in banks and some other central government offices might be disrupted for the next few days.
In the past 24 hours, hundreds of employees serving in nationalised banks, the postal department, insurance, GST, Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), Food Corporation of India, the income tax department and some other central government departments in the north Bengal districts have received letters to go to poll-bound districts and conduct the elections in booths.
“Since today (Tuesday), most nationalised bank branches are left with skeleton staff as the majority of employees have been engaged for poll duty. However, during month-end and at the start of the month, there is a rush of customers, and we apprehend that this shortage of employees will affect banking services,” said the manager of a bank based in Siliguri.
Sources said that from the Siliguri subdivision, around 850 central government employees have headed for south Bengal for Wednesday’s poll duty. Similarly, around 950 such employees from Jalpaiguri district have been assigned poll duties.
The bank manager said the employees deputed to south Bengal were unlikely to return before May 2 or May 3, considering the travel constraints. “Furthermore, most of them have done election duty in the first phase, and many might feel tired after two rounds and can take leave for a couple of days. This will add to our complications,” he said.
On Monday, many central government employees in Jalpaiguri district were surprised to receive the letters around 4.30pm that asked them to report to the distribution-cum-receiving centres (DCRCs) in south Bengal districts by 8am on Tuesday.
“We were barely left with any time to arrange our travel to Calcutta. As no confirmed tickets were available in trains and buses, we had to travel in crowded general compartments,” said Debabrata Ghatak, an employee of the postal department in Jalpaiguri.
Mrinmoy De Sarkar, an employee of the LIC’s Jalpaiguri division, said he had just returned from first-phase poll duty and rejoined office on Monday when he received the fresh notice for poll duty.
“Around 90 employees were asked to report at Barrackpore, Egra, and Bidhannagar DCRCs within such a short time. We were already exhausted. Also, who will bear our travel expenses?” he asked.