West Bengal voter list revision dispute: ECI summons state Chief Secretary to Delhi
The Election Commission of India (ECI) recently sent a letter to West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant asking him to take action against election officials. The West Bengal government wrote a letter to the Election Commission regarding this. However, it seems that the state government does not intend to suspend the officials accused of alleged irregularities in the voter list revision yet.
Sources said that in this regard, the Election Commission on Tuesday summoned the state Chief Secretary Manoj Pant to Delhi to give clarification on this decision. The top bureaucrat of the state has been directed to appear in person at the Election Commission headquarters in the national capital by 5 pm on August 13.
Filing an FIR is tough
This step has been taken in response to Pant’s letter to the Election Commission on Monday, in which he said that as per the instructions of the Election Commission, suspending the identified officials and registering an FIR against them would be a tough step and would have a depressing effect on the officer community in Bengal.
Issue of confrontation between Banerjee government and Election Commission
Instead, the government decided to remove two of the five officers identified by the Election Commission from active election duty for the time being and start an internal investigation into the matter. This is being considered by observers as a new issue in the ongoing confrontation between the Mamata Banerjee government and the Election Commission. Sources in the state secretariat ‘Nabanna’ said that the Chief Secretary is likely to go to Delhi on Wednesday and meet the Commission as per the instructions.
Responded to the suspension order
Pant on Monday responded to the deadline set by the Election Commission to execute the suspension order against five officers, two Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and two Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) and a temporary data entry operator.
These officers are accused of allegedly committing irregularities while preparing the voter list in Baruipur East and Moyna assembly constituencies in South 24 Parganas and East Medinipur districts respectively. The Election Commission also directed the Chief Secretary to register an FIR against all the five accused and sought an action report from the top bureaucrat as soon as possible.
The Chief Secretary wrote in his reply to the Election Commission that any disciplinary action without a thorough investigation would be disproportionately harsh on state government officials who have consistently demonstrated integrity and competence.
Action on two personnel
The government informed the commission that it has removed two personnel – AERO Sudipta Das of Moyna Assembly constituency and Data Entry Operator Surjit Haldar of Baruipur East Assembly constituency – from electoral revision and election-related duties as a first step in the process of assigning responsibility for the alleged irregularities.
The state’s reply does not mention any action taken against three other officials identified by the Election Commission, two of whom are West Bengal Social Service Commission (Executive) rank officials, and said that further action report would be submitted after the investigation is completed.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had questioned the jurisdiction of the commission and the legitimacy of the move, alleging that the BJP was using the Election Commission to intimidate state government officials.
“We will not suspend him. We will protect you. I will remain your ‘pehredaar’,” Banerjee said at a public meeting in Jhargram last week. She attacked the Election Commission, accusing it of working like bonded labourers of the BJP.
