The West Bengal government has suspended four officials and launched departmental proceedings over alleged irregularities in revising electoral rolls, but no FIRs have been filed so far, partially meeting the Election Commission’s directives.
The action comes a week after Chief Secretary Manoj Pant appeared before the Election Commission (EC) in New Delhi, where he was reportedly given an August 21 deadline to suspend the officers and initiate criminal proceedings.
An official at the state secretariat confirmed that the suspended officials include two Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and two Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) from South 24 Parganas and Purba Midnapore districts.
The suspensions follow allegations of irregularities in the voter rolls of the Baruipur East and Moyna assembly constituencies. EC sources identified the officials as Debottam Dutta Chowdhury (ERO) and Tathagata Mandal (AERO) from Baruipur East, and Biplab Sarkar (ERO) and Sudipta Das (AERO) from Moyna.
They are accused of serious procedural violations, including sharing login credentials and breaching data security protocols during the electoral roll revision process. The commission has termed these lapses a direct threat to the integrity of the electoral system and is closely monitoring the state government’s response.
