THE West Bengal Government on Monday informed the ECI that it has removed four officers from active election duty, but did not suspend them as asked by the poll panel. Any disciplinary measure on State Government officers who have “consistently demonstrated sincerity and competence” would be “disproportionately harsh”, West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

 

The Government removed the officers in question from electoral revision and poll-related duties instead of suspending them as directed by the poll body earlier, Pant said in the letter. The Chief Secretary said that the State has initiated an “internal inquiry into the issue”, besides undertaking a “thorough review of the existing processes and procedures” governing the “conduct of the said exercise”. The response from the top bureaucrat of the State to the ECI was shot off within two hours of the deadline, 3 pm on Monday, set by the poll panel to execute its order of suspending four officers and lodge police cases against them.

 

The commission, on August 5, 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 West Bengal for allegedly committing irregularities while preparing electoral rolls in Baruipur Purba and Moyna assembly constituencies in South 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur districts respectively. 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.