The Election Commission of India has appointed 549 General Observers, 180 Police Observers, and 358 Expenditure Observers that totals 1,097 observers across four states and one Union Territory.
Using Article 324 of the Constitution and Section 20B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the Commission appoints central observers to assist in conducting free and fair elections.
Around 54 per cent of the total General Observers have been deployed in West Bengal, one of the most politically charged states.
General Observers are empowered to direct Returning Officers (ROs) to stop counting or withhold declaration of results for reasons specified under Section 20B.
They remain in direct contact with the Election Commission and actively monitor Model Code of Conduct (MCC), or poll code, violations, including attending key rallies for first-hand inputs.
Their role becomes crucial during elections.
In this backdrop, a Trinamool Congress leader recently alleged at a rally that an observer issued WhatsApp instructions to check his and his wife's vehicles, questioning whether similar action was being taken against BJP leaders.
"An unprecedented number of Bengal officers have been transferred to poll bound states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu. On the other hand, instead of sending officers from these states, Election Commisison has sent officers from BJP-ruled states to Bengal as observers. The compromised behavior of the Election Commission will be answered by the people of Bengal on 4th May when the ECI-BJP alliance will be resoundingly defeated," Trinamool leader Saket Gokhale said.
The poll body has appointed 294 General Observers in West Bengal, effectively ensuring that each Assembly constituency is monitored by one IAS officer. Notably, 62 per cent of these officers are from BJP-ruled states, while 111 officers are from Opposition-ruled states.
Among BJP-ruled states, the highest number of officers come from Maharashtra (42), Uttar Pradesh (36), Rajasthan (34), and Madhya Pradesh (27). From Opposition-ruled states, Tamil Nadu has 22 officers, Jharkhand 20, Karnataka 19, and Telangana 14.
Along with West Bengal, elections are also being held in Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry. However, no other state has seen such a high concentration of observers.
Assam (126 seats) has 51 General Observers, Kerala (140 seats) 51, Tamil Nadu (234 seats) 136, and Puducherry (30 seats) 17. The scale of deployment in West Bengal remains significantly higher.
Taking Assam as a comparison, where elections are traditionally bipolar between BJP and Congress, the Commission appointed 51 General Observers, but only one IAS officer is from a Congress-ruled state (Here we refer to congress ruled states where the party is in power not in alliance).
Karnataka cadre IAS officer Mullai Muhilan has been deployed in Tamulpur and Goreswar seats in the Bodoland Territorial Region, where Congress is not contesting.
Constitutional expert PDT Achary told NDTV that Article 324 vests wide powers in the Election Commission to ensure free and fair elections. However, he noted that the current steps appear unusual.
He said that while observer appointment rules are not clearly defined, typically one observer is assigned per constituency, and in some sensitive seats more may be deployed but not at the scale seen in West Bengal, which he described as "more like intimidation."
Achary added that Article 324 is a reservoir of power, but it operates only where the law is silent and cannot override existing statutes. On the removal of officers, he argued that if a valid law already governs the process, the Commission cannot bypass it by invoking emergency election powers.
Observer deployment, according to a poll body document, is based on factors such as geographical contiguity, accessibility, remoteness, natural barriers, and past election experience.
In comparison, during the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, the Commission had appointed 209 IAS officers as General Observers across 8 phases. Districts like Cooch Behar, Howrah, South 24 Parganas and Murshidabad district have seen one observer for one seat while many observers covering more than one constituency.
Similarly, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, most parliamentary constituencies had one General Observer, with only a few sensitive seats Malda Dakshin, Kolkata Dakshin, Jhargram, and Bolpur having two observers each.
This time, apart from observers, the Commission has also deployed nearly 2.55 lakh Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) in West Bengal and transferred several senior officials, including the Chief Secretary, DGP, Home Secretary, Kolkata Police Commissioner, and ADG (Law and Order).
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said these steps are aimed at ensuring fear-free, violence-free, and inducement-free elections, with no booth capturing or malpractice.
While the Commission maintains that its objective is to ensure neutrality, Opposition parties have termed the move a blatant misuse of power, intensifying the debate whether these measures ensure security, or signal intimidation.
