Kolkata, Nov 25 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) had forwarded a letter to West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress Chairperson, Mamata Banerjee, giving nod for a meeting with a party delegation to discuss various issues, including the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) by the commission in the state.

The letter from ECI’s Secretary Ashwani Kumar Mohal was addressed to Banerjee as the party chief and was dispatched to her official residence at Harish Chatterjee Street in south Kolkata.

In the letter, the commission has fixed 11 a.m. on November 28 as the time and date of the meeting with the Trinamool delegation. The letter from the commission was a reply to an earlier letter from the leader of Trinamool’s Parliamentary Party in the Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien, requesting a meeting of the party delegation with the top ECI officials.

In the letter, the ECI Secretary had categorically stated that the commission always welcomes regular interaction with the political parties for a constructive dialogue.

“Accordingly, the Commission has considered the party’s request and decided to give an appointment to the delegation of All India Trinamool Congress, comprising of the Authorised Representative of the Party along with four other members of the party, for a meeting at 11:00 AM on 28.11.2025 (Friday) at Nirvachan Sadan, Ashoka Road, New Delhi,” the letter read.

Incidentally, on Monday, the Chief Minister wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar objecting to two recent proposals from the ECI– one concerning the separate appointment of data-entry operators for the ongoing SIR in the state, and the other relating to the choice of polling stations for the Assembly elections scheduled next year.

BJP’s Information Technology Cell chief and the party’s central observer for West Bengal, Amit Malviya reacted to the letter from the Chief Minister to CEC claiming that ECI’s proposal for hiring data entry operators and software developers for a period of one year amid the ongoing SIR in West Bengal was not exclusive to the state but is being followed in all states and Union Territories where a similar revision exercise is currently underway

–IANS

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