Uncertainties continue over review of election booth maintenance work done in Bengal during last polls

Kolkata, Oct 23 (IANS) Uncertainties are continuing over the beginning of the work review of booth-level infrastructure maintenance work, technically termed as Assured Minimum Facilities (AMF) and Extended Minimum Facilities (EMF), done in West Bengal during the last three elections.

The deadline given by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, to the state government undertaking Mackintosh Burn Limited (MBL) to begin the review work, ended on Wednesday.

However, the CEO’s office has yet to receive any communication from the state-owned entity on this count as yet, confirmed insiders from the CEO’s office.

“A review of the booth-level infrastructure maintenance work done in West Bengal during the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, was necessary to have an idea of what kind of further maintenance work is required amid the crucial state Assembly polls scheduled next year.

"Accordingly, the CEO’s office had set a deadline for Mackintosh Burn to begin the review work. That deadline has expired on Wednesday,” a CEO’s office insider said.

The CEO, West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, is currently in New Delhi to attend the crucial two-day meeting between Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, and the CEOs of all states that started from Wednesday.

Agarwal is expected to come back to Kolkata on Thursday night and make a decision on how to take up the matter again with Mackintosh Burn's management.

The CEO’s office insider explained that the review of the AMF and EMF done in the last three polls was necessary to have a clear idea of what kind of further maintenance work is required, and accordingly, election funds could be allotted for the same.

Already, a fresh tussle has erupted between the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the West Bengal government over the choice of the agency needed for conducting the AMF and EMF at the polling booths before the Assembly elections next year.

To recall, after initially agreeing to take up the booth-level infrastructure maintenance work, Mackintosh Burn later backed out of that responsibility. Thereafter, last week, the office of the CEO forwarded a strongly–worded communique to the firm's management, where the ECI and the CEO’s office exercised their authority under certain sections of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and directed the state government undertaking to carry out the AMF activities as was agreed upon earlier.

In the fresh communique from the Additional Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to the Director of Mackintosh Burn, the entity was asked to start the preparatory exercise for election booth maintenance activities, or face consequences under the existing legal provisions, including criminal proceedings against the directors of the entity under various Sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

--IANS

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