Kolkata, March 25 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday issued a notification hiking the daily allowances for electoral officers of all levels. The last time polling officer remuneration was increased was in 2016.
As per the ECI’s order, the daily allowance for presiding officers and counting supervisors has been increased from Rs 350 to Rs 500. The same has been increased for polling officers from Rs 250 to Rs 400.
The assistant count has been increased from Rs 350 to Rs 450.
The daily allowance for “Ground-D” assistants involved in the polling process has been increased from Rs 200 to Rs 350.
The allowances of staff in charge of video surveillance, the accounting team, call centres, flying squads, and monitoring cells have also been increased. Earlier, they used to receive Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 daily. Now they will be given Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 daily.
The daily allowance for micro-observers has been increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000.
Four states, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, and Assam, and the Union Territory of Puducherry, are going to the polls next month, with results to be announced on May 4.
West Bengal will have two-phase polling on April 23 and April 29. In the first phase, polling will be held for 152 of the 294 assembly constituencies, and in the second phase, for the remaining 142 constituencies.
West Bengal is the only state where the special intensive revision (SIR) process has not been completed under the model code of conduct, which is already in place.
Currently, judicial adjudication of voters identified under the logical discrepancy category is ongoing.
The first supplementary list has already been published. Those whose names are found excludable in the judicial adjudication process will have the chance to appeal to any of the 19 Appellate Tribunals constituted for the purpose.
--IANS
src/dan