The West Bengal government has completed the process of registering FIRs against two electoral registration officers (EROs) and two assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs as per the Election Commission of India’s deadline. These officers were found guilty of including fake voters in the electoral rolls during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision exercise in the state. Additionally, a data-entry operator involved in the same charges also faced FIR registration.
The state government sent a compliance report to the ECI’s headquarters in New Delhi. The ECI had issued a final reminder to register FIRs against the errant officers after noting the lack of action despite repeated reminders. The Commission set a deadline for the registration of FIRs against the four officers concerned.
Among the officers directed to have FIRs registered against them are the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) of Baruipur East Assembly constituency, Debottam Dutta Chowdhury, and the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) of the same constituency, Tathagata Mandal. The other two officers are from Moyna Assembly constituency in East Midnapore district.
In August last year, the ECI had instructed the suspension and FIR registration of these officers, which was only partially implemented by the state government. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had criticized the ECI’s directive and vowed not to take action against government employees.
