ECI sets Monday deadline for state to suspend 4 officials

Kolkata: In a fresh notice to Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant on Friday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) set the state government a deadline of 3 pm on August 11, to execute its decision to suspend four officials and submit an action taken compliance report, according to reports.

The Commission on Tuesday had announced its decision to suspend four officials – two Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and two Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) – and a casual data entry operator in Bengal for allegedly committing irregularities while preparing electoral rolls in Baruipur

Purba and Moyna Assembly constituencies in South 24-Parganas and East Midnapore districts. It directed the chief secretary to lodge FIRs against all five accused and sought an action taken report from the top bureaucrat at the earliest.

Two among the five penalised state government employees—Debottam Dutta Choudhury and Biplab Sarkar, operating as EROs—are officers of the WBCS (Executive) rank.

“No compliance report indicating specific action taken against each of the officers has been received in the Commission so far,” the ECI notice on Friday stated.

“The commission has directed that necessary action against the above officers shall be taken immediately and a compliance report be furnished to the Commission, latest by 3.00 PM on 11th August, 2025,” the notice read. The letter, signed by ECI secretary Sujeet Kumar Mishra, was shot off a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared that she would not execute the suspension order and “assured” the bureaucratic fraternity of standing by the officers as their ‘pehredar’ (guard), and indicated fresh escalation of face-offs between the poll panel and the state.

Meanwhile, the Bengal state Election Commission on Friday sent a letter to the Chief Secretary claiming that they have found four names of people who belong to Bangladesh, but they possess voter card and Aadhar card of Bengal.

Sources in EC said that they have sent the letter on Friday but they are yet to receive any reply from the Chief Secretary in this regard.