970x125
Updated on: Aug 28, 2025 08:47 pm IST
970x125
A dozen or so posts of Electoral Registration Officers and more than 500 posts of Assistant Electoral Registration Officers are vacant across the state
KOLKATA: West Bengal chief secretary Manoj Pant has ordered the state’s district magistrates (DMs) to expedite the oricess of appointing Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) for each of the state’s 294 assembly constituencies.
Officials said that a dozen or so posts of EROs – one is appointed for each assembly segment – and more than 500 posts of AEROs were vacant across Bengal.
The instructions were issued on Wednesday following a communication received from Bengal’s chief electoral officer Manoj Agarwal, who told the government to urgently fill the vacant posts of officials in connection with the planned revision of the electoral rolls.
“The state government has been directed to fill up vacancies in the posts of EROs, AEROs and other officials related to the revision of electoral rolls. Instructions in this regard have also reached the district magistrates,” a state government official said.
The move comes amid speculation that the Election Commission of India (ECI) may order a special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in West Bengal ahead of the 2026 assembly elections.
A controversy also erupted after the ECI directed the Mamata Banerjee government on August 5 to suspend four officers – two EROs and two AEROs – and lodge FIRs against them, following the poll body’s accusation that they had added names of fictitious voters to the electoral roll and compromised data security.
The state government initially resisted taking action against them but eventually complied with the instruction to suspend the officials concerned..
CEO Manoh Agrawal’s letter on Tuesday also instructed EROs and AEROs to not give access to the web system used by ECI to manage electoral rolls and voter registration processes across the country to temporary staffers.
“Therefore, it is hereby directed that AEROs/EROs shall not delegate the discharge of any of their statutory duties and functions to any other official or person and will not share their ERONet login ID and OTP with any data entry operator or any other official or person under any circumstances whatsoever,” the letter said.
“Assistance for IT-related work will only be solicited from system managers, assistant system managers and data entry operators who are permanent government employees and in their absence, from permanent government employees of the level of Group C and above,” it added.
970x125
