ECI rejects Bengal govt’s plea for withdrawal of action order against officials accused of voter list manipulation

Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (ECI) had turned down the West Bengal government’s plea last week seeking withdrawal of the poll body’s earlier order for strong disciplinary action — including suspension and registration of FIRs — against four electoral officers in the state accused of manipulation in the enrolment of voters in two Assembly constituencies.

On Friday, an official communique went from the West Bengal government to the ECI through the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), seeking the Commission’s earlier disciplinary actions against these four electoral officers, including two electoral registration officers (EROs) and two assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs).

However, on Saturday, the ECI’s headquarters in New Delhi had communicated to the CEO’s office that the district magistrates, also the district electoral officers (DEOs), will have to carry forward with the Commission’s earlier order for registration of FIRs against these four electoral officers, an insider from the CEO’s office confirmed.

Two of the four officers against whom the CEO’s office has been directed to register FIRs are Debottam Dutta Chowdhury, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) of Baruipur East Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district, and Tathagata Mandal, the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) of the same constituency.

The other two officers are Biplob Sarkar, the ERO of Moyna Assembly constituency in East Midnapore district, and Sudipta Das, the AERO of the constituency.

To recall, in August last year, instructions came from the ECI headquarters in New Delhi to West Bengal to suspend these four electoral officers and also register FIRs against them.

However, the West Bengal government partially implemented the order. Although the four officers were suspended, FIRs were not registered against them.

Additionally, a contractual Data Entry Operator was relieved of his duty.

Again, earlier this month, the ECI directed the district magistrates of South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore to register FIRs against the four electoral officers.

However, before the two district electoral officers initiated the process of registering FIRs, the state government sent a request to withdraw the order for disciplinary action against the four officers.

The officers were accused of tampering with the voters’ list. Following this, the ECI had directed that the four officers and the Data Entry Operator should be suspended and that FIRs should be lodged against them.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had then criticised the ECI for its directive and accused the poll body of being the “bonded labour of the BJP”.

She had also asserted that her government would not take any action against its employees.

IANS