CEO tells CS to hurry up filling vacant poll officials’ posts
The Statesman | 29 August 2025
The state Chief Electoral officer (CEO), Manoj Kumar Agarwal, today shot off a letter to the state chief secretary, Manoj Pant, urging him to expedite the filling up of the vacant posts of Electoral Registration Officers (ERO) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AERO).
The move is seen as sending a clear signal that the implementation of the much-talked about Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state was not far off.
Sources at Nabanna claimed that a letter to this effect had reached the state secretariat. It also asked the state to take necessary steps without further delay, sending a compliance report to the poll panel by 29 August.
Confirming the development, an official said on condition of anonymity that the state administration was already on the job and would act as per the instructions issued. CEO sources said there are about 15 to 16 ERO posts and over 500 AERO posts that need filling up.
As part of the exercise, Nabanna sources said the chief secretary held a meeting today with all the district magistrates and departmental secretaries this morning.
These developments come in the backdrop of the recent deposition of the chief secretary before the full bench of the Election Commission of India in Delhi after a summons was issued to him for the delay in filing FIRs and suspending four polling officers for manipulating electoral rolls.
The state finally partly complied with the EC order by suspending the four polling officers, who included two Electoral Registration Officers and two Assistant Electoral Registration Officers from Moyna and Baruipur Purba Assembly constituencies. No FIRs were, however, lodged against them.