Kolkata, Oct. 4 -- The Election Commission of India (ECI) has raised concerns over the appointment of booth-level officers (BLOs) in West Bengal, after reports surfaced that thousands of contractual government employees were selected in violation of mandated guidelines.
District election officers (DEOs) who cleared these appointments may now have to justify their actions before the commission.
According to insiders from the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), nearly 4,500 contractual state government employees were appointed as BLOs for around 2,000 polling booths in certain districts.
This selection allegedly bypassed the ECI's eligibility criteria, which require that permanent state government employees in Group-C ...