Mamata Banerjee at EC office in New Delhi (PTI photo)
NEW DELHI: Election Commission, in its meeting with TMC president Mamata Bannerjee on Monday, red-flagged the repeated use of abusive and threatening language by party MLAs against the commission and its field officers as well as vandalisation of SIR-related offices in Bengal by party workers and MLAs.While also listing blatant violations of EC’s lawful directions by the Bengal administration, CEC Gyanesh Kumar on Monday firmly conveyed to Mamata that the “rule of law shall prevail and anybody taking law into their own hands shall be dealt with strictly, as per provisions of law and powers vested in the Commission”.“No pressure, obstruction, or interference of any kind by anyone should be exerted on officers engaged in SIR work,” it was underlined.Sources said even though the CEC and the two election commissioners heard Mamata patiently on all her concerns regarding SIR and offered polite explanations, “she raised false allegations, misbehaved, thumped the table and left in a huff”.Earlier during the meeting, EC brought up failure of the Bengal administration to release the honorarium payable to BLOs in a timely manner, and cautioned against any further delay. Only Rs 7,000 out of Rs 18,000 due to each BLO has been paid as of now, by the state. EC also complained about the state’s failure to spare officers at the level of sub-magistrate or tehsildar, for deployment as EROs or assistant EROs.EC pointed out that it had on Jan 20 moved a proposal for appointment of returning officers (ROs) as per the criteria. “At present ROs in only 67 assembly constituencies are of SDO/SDM rank.”Other prickly issues raised by EC on Monday include transfers of three electoral roll observers in Bengal without consultation with EC. It had requested for cancellation of transfer orders on Jan 27 but no action has been reported so far.Bengal govt has, as per an EC source, also defied EC’s instructions dated Aug 5, 2025 to register FIR against four officers (two EROs and two AEROs) and one data entry operator for their failure to perform their statutory duties and for violating data security policies by sharing log-in credentials with unauthorised persons. A stern reminder was sent by EC in the matter on Jan 12 this year.
