The Election Commission of India (ECI) Tuesday suspended four electoral officers in West Bengal for their alleged involvement in the wrongful inclusion of names in electoral rolls in two assembly constituencies — 137-Baruipur Purba (South 24 Parganas) and 206-Moyna (Purba Medinipur). The poll panel has also directed that FIRs be filed against all erring officials for suspected criminal misconduct.
Photo: IANS
The Election Commission of India (ECI) Tuesday suspended four electoral officers in West Bengal for their alleged involvement in the wrongful inclusion of names in electoral rolls in two assembly constituencies — 137-Baruipur Purba (South 24 Parganas) and 206-Moyna (Purba Medinipur). The poll panel has also directed that FIRs be filed against all erring officials for suspected criminal misconduct.
In a notification, the ECI said the following officers have been suspended with immediate effect for their failure to properly supervise election-related work:
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Debottam Dutta Choudhury, WBCS (Exe.), 2012 batch, Deputy Project Director (Monitoring), District Rural Development Cell, South 24 Parganas and ERO of 137-Baruipur Purba AC
Tathagata Mondal, Assistant Programme Officer, MGNREGS, Joynagar-1 Block and AERO of 137-Baruipur Purba AC
Biplab Sarkar, WBCS (Exe.), 2012 batch, District Officer Minority Affairs, Purba Medinipur and ERO of 206-Moyna AC
Sudipta Das, Panchayat Accounts & Audit Officer, Tamluk Block and AERO of 206-Moyna AC
The Commission further directed that suitable disciplinary proceedings be initiated against them without delay.
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Additionally, the ECI ordered the filing of an FIR against Surojit Halder, a casual Data Entry Operator, for his role in the irregularities.
According to the ECI, a report received from the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal on July 29 revealed that the officers not only failed to perform their duties properly while disposing of voter applications, but also compromised data security protocols by sharing their login credentials of the electoral roll database with unauthorised individuals.
Taking serious note of the lapses, the Commission stated that it views these violations as grave and deserving of immediate and stern action.
On Thursday, the ECI instructed West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal to promptly initiate preparations for a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state’s electoral rolls, ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled for next year.
The directive follows a similar month-long SIR exercise recently conducted in Bihar, which sparked controversy, with opposition parties accusing it of facilitating large-scale voter exclusion and claiming it is designed to favour the ruling NDA government.
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