ECI summons Bengal CS to Delhi tomorrow over suspension of four election officers

Kolkata: A day after the West Bengal government intimated the Election Commission of India (ECI) that it would not currently comply with the order from the commission, to suspend four election officials posted with two Assembly constituencies in two districts of the state for their involvement in wrongful addition of names in the electoral rolls of these two seats, the commission, on Tuesday, summoned Chief Secretary Manoj Pant to the ECI’s headquarter at New Delhi by 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

On August 8, the ECI had sent a reminder to Pant on sending the compliance report over the commission’s earlier direction to the state government to suspend these four election officers and asked the Trinamool Congress government to send the compliance report on this count by Monday.

However, on Monday, the Chief Secretary forwarded a communique to the commission, saying that the state government is yet to order any such disciplinary action against the four election officers, as directed by the poll body.

Instead, Pant said in the communique that an internal enquiry into the issue as well as a comprehensive review of the existing processes and procedures governing the conduct of the said exercise, have been undertaken.

As a first step, the Chief Secretary informed the ECI on Monday that the services of these four election officials have been withdrawn from electoral revision and election-related duties, and further action taken report would be submitted to the commission post completion of the enquiry.

An insider from the State Secretariat said that Pant, in all probability, will be present at the ECI’s headquarters in New Delhi by 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

The complications on the issue of disciplinary action against the four errant election officers started from the beginning, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee challenging the commission’s order and saying that the state government would not take any action against the four officers since all of them were state government employees.

The main charges against these four election officers are that they had not only failed in performing duties as Electoral Registration Officers and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers while disposing of the applications but also violated the policy of data security while sharing their login credentials of the election registration database with unauthorised persons.

If proven guilty, the punishment of the erring individuals will be imprisonment for a term of at least three months, but it might extend to two years, and with a fine, as per legal provisions.

IANS