The Election Commission has directed the concerned district election authorities to file FIRs against the five suspended state officials, accused of illegally including fake or non-existent voters’ names in the electoral rolls.
According to sources in the office of the State Chief Electoral Officer, instructions have been issued to register criminal cases against Debottam Dutta Chowdhury, Electoral Registration Officer of the Baruipur East Assembly constituency, Assistant Electoral Registration Officer Tathagata Mandal, Biplab Sarkar, Electoral Registration Officer of the Moyna Assembly constituency; Assistant Electoral Registration Officer Sudipta Das, and Data Entry Operator Surajit Halder.
During the enumeration phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, these officials were accused of adding fraudulent names to the voter list. The Election Commission had earlier ordered their suspension and directed the State Chief Secretary to ensure that FIRs were lodged against them.
However, despite their suspension, no FIRs were filed by the state government. As a result, the Election Commission has now taken suo moto action and directly instructed the district magistrates to register FIRs against the officials concerned.
