War of words in social media over TMC MP Mohua Moitra's post on electoral roll observer Murugan

Kolkata: A war of words broke out between Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and Electoral Roll Observer C S Murugan over allegations related to the role of micro-observers in electoral roll revisions. The controversy began on February 18 when Moitra, in a post on X, said the official was overstepping his mandate. "Please control your Roll Observer C Murugan IAS 2007 Dy Chairperson Tea Board, who is issuing incorrect directions on secret WhatsApp groups to micro observers in violation of Supreme Court orders," she wrote, sharing an image referencing a film character and wrote the caption 'Quick Gun Murugan'. In what is seen as a response, Murugan posted on X on February 26 without naming anyone. "I don't have as many guns as depicted in the picture. However, I was trained to handle different types of guns and legally and effectively used them during my four and a half years of training in police service in Tamil Nadu," he stated in a late counter post on social media handle.

There was no immediate response by Moitra to Murugan's counterpost on social media. The exchange follows earlier claims by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee that Murugan had been issuing directions via WhatsApp to micro-observers to delete voters' names. Banerjee had also shared purported screenshots of such messages on his X handle. Banerjee had charged that Election Commission officials were using micro-observers beyond their prescribed role to facilitate the deletion of names from voter lists, allegedly in violation of directions of the Supreme Court of India. "Even more disturbing are credible reports of Special Roll Observer, C Murugan, issuing instructions regarding the acceptability of birth certificates directly to micro observers in a WhatsApp group, to inflate deletion numbers," he had said. "Need I remind the ECI of the Supreme Court's categorical directive that the role of micro-observers must remain strictly assistive? Why, then, is statutory procedure being bypassed, and under whose instructions?" he had said in his earlier post. Denying the accusations of Banerjee, Murugan had earlier told the media, "No directive has been issued to anybody through WhatsApp messages. Only clarifications were given on some directives of the ECI."