Top News

Just before the counting of assembly elections in West Bengal, the Bharatiya Janata Party has made a big claim. BJP leader and candidate from Bhawanipur seat, Shubhendu Adhikari said that some officers deployed on counting duty have shared their confidential information with their respective departmental organizations and associations. The BJP leader has directly said that leaking of this information can have a serious impact on the fairness of the vote counting process to be held on Monday and the transparency of the entire process can be in danger.

Shubhendu Adhikari has clearly said that some officers are sharing extremely sensitive information to their duties, location and responsibilities with departmental organizations and associations. He has demanded the Election Commission to take immediate cognizance of this entire matter so that the sanctity of vote counting is maintained and no outside interference can affect its impartiality.

Shubhendu Adhikari claims officers’ duty information leaked

BJP leader Subhendu Adhikari made this serious allegation public by sharing a detailed post on social media platform ‘X’ on Sunday. He said in his post, “It has come to my notice that many officers deployed for duty on the day of counting are allegedly divulging the details of their duty, their location and their designation to their respective departmental organizations and associations.” The officer further said that he has received information that some spreadsheets and lists are being circulated on a large scale, in which officers are filling their ‘election duty information’ either voluntarily or are being forced to do so under some unknown pressure. These lists also include detailed descriptions of their specific roles during the vote counting process, making their identity and scope of work clear.

Shubhendu Adhikari has also attached screenshots of some WhatsApp messages along with his social media post, which he has presented as proof of his claim. He stressed that this is a very serious violation of election rules, which directly jeopardizes the sanctity of the vote counting process. The BJP leader said in clear words that the sanctity and credibility of the counting process entirely depends on the secrecy of deployment of personnel involved in it. They believe that any breach of this confidentiality will directly affect the fairness of the results and raise questions on the democratic process.

The officer expressed serious concern that when specific details of an officer’s posting become known to an organization or association with political leanings, it creates scope for undue political influence and pressure, which may also include possible intimidation. This situation could seriously hamper the transparency and fairness of the vote counting process, raising questions about the election results and shaking public confidence.

Shubhendu Adhikari urged the Election Commission to take cognizance of the matter

He has urged the Election Commission and the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal to take immediate cognizance of this sensitive matter. The BJP leader has appealed that immediate and strict instructions be issued to prevent officials from sharing their counting duties with any organization or association. Along with this, he has also demanded that a thorough investigation should be conducted into all those organizations and associations which are involved in collecting such confidential information, so that any such irregularities can be prevented in future and the integrity of the vote counting process is maintained.