EC orders suspension of 7 Bengal electoral officers over roll revision lapses
Poll body sets deadline for FIRs against previously suspended officials, rebukes state for slow compliance
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has instructed the West Bengal government to suspend seven assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs) for alleged dereliction of duty during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.
In a communication sent to the office of chief secretary Nandini Chakraborty, the commission directed that the officials be immediately suspended and face departmental disciplinary proceedings.
The seven AEROs named in the order are Sefaur Rahaman (Samserganj, Murshidabad), Nitish Das (Farakka, Murshidabad), Dalia Ray Choudhury (Maynaguri, Jalpaiguri), Murshid Alam (Suti, Murshidabad), Satyajit Das and Joydeep Kundu (Canning Purba, South 24-Parganas), and Debashis Biswas (Debra, West Midnapore). All were associated with the revision exercise.
The latest directive follows earlier action taken by the commission in August 2025, when it ordered the suspension of two electoral registration officers (EROs) and two AEROs after allegations of malpractice in the preparation of electoral rolls were found to be substantiated.
At that time, the state government suspended the four officials but did not register First Information Reports (FIRs) against them, drawing criticism from the poll body.
On 14 February, the commission set 17 February as the deadline for the state authorities to lodge the pending FIRs against those four officers, citing repeated reminders and what it described as a lack of urgency in implementing its instructions. A fresh communication reiterating the deadline was sent to the state secretariat on Saturday evening.
The four officials facing FIRs include Debottam Dutta Chowdhury, ERO of Baruipur East in South 24-Parganas, and Tathagata Mandal, AERO of the same constituency. The other two are Biplob Sarkar, ERO of Moyna in East Midnapore, and Sudipta Das, AERO of that constituency. They have been accused of tampering with electoral rolls.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had previously criticised the commission’s move, alleging that it was acting in a partisan manner. She stated at the time that her government would not take action against its employees under what she termed external pressure.
With IANS input