Dear Members,

It has come to our notice that some of the Candidates have raised certain queries with regard to the process of conduct and declaration of results of the upcoming AROI WB Elections 2021 through their e-mails.

As members of the Election Commission, it is obligatory on our part to clarify and substantiate a few relevant points as dictated by our Constitution:

1. The third party agency conducting the Elections, M/s Astra Infotech, have successfully conducted the e-Voting process for both the previous elections in 2016 and 2018 (no actual voting was done in 2018 as all Candidates were elected unopposed).

2. It may be mentioned that no objections / questions to the method of free and fair conduct of the election process by the same third party vendor were ever raised during the previous elections by any Member / Candidate. It is, therefore, rather intriguing that queries regarding the veracity of the third party are now being put up.

3. The entire election process by e-Voting is being conducted as per norms laid down in the Constitution of the Association (Central body) and as per the previous two elections conducted by the State Chapter.

4. According to these norms, the entire process of conduct of the elections, from the filing of nominations to the declaration of results, is the sole responsibility of the Election Commission, and as per rules, their decisions are final and binding on all Members and Candidates.

Therefore, the Election Commissioners of AROI WB Chapter would like to clearly state, as explained above, that all Members and Candidates should allay any apprehension or doubt and participate fearlessly in the election process and be assured that the entire electoral process will be free and fair and shall be conducted according to prevailing best practices.

Prof Subir Gangopadhyay , Chief Election Commissioner

Prof Shyamal Kumar Sarkar , Election Commissioner

Dr Gautam Bhattacharjee , Election Commissioner

Notification no-AROIWB/Elect/2021/04 - dated 01.10.2021. Click to read.