Kolkata: The Election Commission on Tuesday suspended four Bengal govt officers, including two electoral registration officers (EROs) and two assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs), asking chief secretary Manoj Pant to lodge FIRs against them and start disciplinary proceedings.
Prima facie, the officers had erred in checking entry of bogus voters in voters' list, the commission said in its letter to Pant.
Among the four are two WBCS (exe) officers of 2012 batch, who would be placed under suspension immediately "for grave lapses committed by them" and "for failure in supervising poll-related work". Pant has been instructed to start disciplinary proceedings against them without delay. The four include the EROs and AEROs of Baruipur East in South 24 Parganas and Moyna in East Midnapore, and FIRs will be lodged "for their actions, which potentially amount to criminal misconduct".
Earlier, Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal sent his report on the wrongful addition of names by these EROs and AROs, stating that these officers "not only failed to perform duty as ERO and AERO while disposing of the names of the applications, but also violated the policy of data security while sharing their login credentials with unauthorised persons".
The EC has also requested the lodging of an FIR against a data entry operator and instructed the Bengal chief secretary to comply with the directives and send an action taken report at the earliest. The commission has sought details of agencies hired for providing data entry operators.
The commission's letter further stated that under Representation of the People Act, 1950, CEO, DEO, ERO, AERO and other officers or staff employed in connection with the preparation, revision and correction of electoral rolls for conduct of polls shall be deemed to be on deputation to the EC. The action against the erring officials was being taken under section 32 of the act, the letter added.
A senior official said the four officials will have a black spot on their careers unless exonerated by the EC. He mentioned that earlier two DMs were removed by the EC, and it had requested departmental proceedings against them, but state govt did not start the proceedings. The EC is likely to take action against more poll officials for their negligence or gross violation of duty, the official added.