Daijiworld Media Network - Kolkata
Kolkata, Feb 16: The Election Commission of India (ECI) took decisive action on Monday by suspending seven Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) involved in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, citing dereliction of duty. The move was made directly by the Commission, without waiting for compliance from the state government.
The directive to suspend these officers had been sent to West Bengal chief secretary Nandini Chakraborty late on Sunday evening. However, within 24 hours, the ECI intervened directly, relieving the seven AEROs from their SIR responsibilities.
The suspended officers are:
• Sefaur Rahaman – Samserganj Assembly constituency, Murshidabad district
• Nitish Das – Farakka Assembly constituency, Murshidabad district
• Dalia Ray Choudhury – Maynaguri Assembly constituency, Jalpaiguri district
• Murshid Alam – Suti Assembly constituency, Murshidabad district
• Satyajit Das and Joydeep Kundu – Canning (Purba) Assembly constituency, South 24 Parganas district
• Debashis Biswas – Debra Assembly constituency, West Midnapore district
This action follows a similar instance in August last year when the ECI had ordered the suspension and FIR registration against two Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and two AEROs over verified electoral roll malpractices. At that time, the West Bengal Chief Secretary’s office faced criticism for only partially implementing the directive, suspending the officers but not initiating FIRs.
Last week, the ECI had set February 17 as the deadline for the state government to file FIRs against the involved officers. The four officials targeted for FIRs include:
• Debottam Dutta Chowdhury – ERO, Baruipur East Assembly constituency, South 24 Parganas
• Tathagata Mandal – AERO, Baruipur East Assembly constituency, South 24 Parganas
• Biplob Sarkar – ERO, Moyna Assembly constituency, East Midnapore
• Sudipta Das – AERO, Moyna Assembly constituency, East Midnapore
These officers face allegations of tampering with electoral rolls. The ECI has mandated their suspension and the registration of FIRs to ensure accountability and integrity in the electoral revision process.