Political slugfest erupts as Trinamool councillor's name figures in list of tampered OMR sheets

Kolkata, Dec 24 A fresh political slugfest erupted in West Bengal on Saturday after the name of a Trinamool Congress councillor appeared in the list of 952 optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets published by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), which were allegedly tampered with to accommodate ineligible candidates as teachers in state-run schools.

After the WBSSC published the full list as per the direction of the Calcutta High Court, it was found that one of the names in the list is that Kuheli Ghosh, the Trinamool councillor from Ward No. 18 of Rajpur-Sonarpur municipality in South 24 Parganas district. Ghosh is also a secondary teacher of history in Sonarpur Chowhati High School, which comes under the ward where she is the councillor. Her name is in the 474th position in the list of 952 tampered OMR sheets published by the WBSSC.

After her name was identified in the list, the opposition parties in the state launched a scathing attack against the state government and the ruling Trinamool Congress.

Ghosh herself was reluctant to make any comment in the matter, saying that since the matter is in court, it would be unwise for her to make any comment on it at this point of time.

CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said the fresh revelation proves what massive irregularity had taken place in the recruitment process of teachers in the state under the current regime.

"This is not possible without endorsement from the highest political-administrative level of the state," he said.

State BJP spokesman Samik Bhattacharya said that the current government has turned the recruitment process into a total farse and a medium for minting money for the ruling party leaders.

"More scandals will be tumble out of the closet in the days to come," he said.

As per the records of the WBSSC, Ghosh joined Sonarpur Chowhati High School as a history teacher in January 2019 after clearing the recruitment examination and interview. Prior to that, she was a primary teacher at a state-run primary school.

Recently, following an order from the high court, the WBSSC sought all her details from the authorities of the school where she is currently employed.