Kolkata: West Bengal Leader of Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday alleged a “grave violation of election protocols”, claiming that several officers deployed for counting‑day duties are disclosing their duty details, locations and designations to their departmental organisations and associations.
He described the practice as a serious breach of election norms meant to ensure secrecy and neutrality in the vote‑counting process, as reported by The Economic Times.
In a post on X ahead of vote counting on May 4, Adhikari wrote, “It has come to my notice that several Officers assigned for Counting Day duties are reportedly disclosing their specific duty details, locations, and designations to their respective departmental organisations and associations.”
He further alleged that officers were being asked to fill out their “Election Duty Info” in spreadsheets and lists that were being circulated, either on their own or under pressure, specifying the exact roles they were assigned in the counting process.
“This is a grave violation of election protocols,” Adhikari said, warning that such practices could have serious implications for the integrity of the exercise.
Listing multiple concerns stemming from the alleged disclosure, he stated that it could heighten the risk of undue influence. “When an Officer’s specific deployment is known to a politically tilted organisation or union, it opens the doors for unnecessary political influence and intimidation,” he said.
Adhikari also flagged apprehensions over the neutrality of the counting process. “The sanctity of the counting process relies on the confidentiality of personnel deployment. Any breach of this secrecy directly affects the impartiality of the results,” he added in his X post.
He further alleged that these data‑collection exercises could serve as a means to exert pressure. “Such ‘data collection’ by associations is often a veiled attempt to put pressure on Officers to favour the ruling dispensation during the crucial counting hours,” he said.
Adhikari called on the Election Commission of India and the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal to urgently take cognisance of the matter and issue stringent directions prohibiting any officer from sharing their assigned counting‑day duties with any organisation or association. He also urged authorities to initiate a probe into the groups allegedly collecting such sensitive deployment information.
Meanwhile, BJP MP Saumitra Khan echoed similar concerns in a post on X, flagging alleged irregularities involving government officials. In his post, he wrote, “@ECISVEEP must take immediate action against the alleged fraud by ROs & DMs. Our democracy is at stake. IPAC/TMC‑linked DMs & ROs are allegedly soliciting counting officers’ IDs via WhatsApp to create fake credentials.”
