West Bengal Chief Secretary given time till February 17 to fulfil ECI’s pending directions

The Election Commission has asked the West Bengal Chief Secretary to comply by February 17 with its directions, including payment of enhanced remuneration to BLOs and lodging of FIRs against errant officials who wilfully violated norms during the ongoing SIR exercise.

In a meeting with State Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty on Friday (February 13, 2026) at Nirvachan Sadan, the Election Commission (EC) top brass directed her to comply with the poll authority’s pending directions by 5.30 p.m. on Tuesday, a functionary said.

The EC has pulled up the West Bengal government for not releasing the increased honorarium for booth-level officers (BLOs) and the additional payment approved for the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

In August last year, the poll panel had doubled the annual remuneration of BLOs from ₹6,000 to ₹12,000 and raised the payment for BLO supervisors from ₹12,000 to ₹18,000. It also approved an honorarium for electoral registration officers (EROs) and assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs).

Another key issue is EC’s directions to the State government to lodge FIRs against errant officials who “wilfully flouted” norms during the SIR process.

Ms. Chakraborty was called by the EC as she took over as the Chief Secretary in January this year. West Bengal is set to have Assembly elections in the next two months.

Besides, the EC top brass also wanted to discuss pending issues with her, the functionary added.

The poll panel had last year asked the West Bengal government file cases against four officers. The government suspended them, and departmental proceedings had also been initiated, but no FIR was lodged against them.