Bengal govt rolls back suspension for 2 out of 4 poll officers over alleged voter list irregularities

In a letter sent to Chief Election Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal on Monday, Chief Secretary Manoj Pant confirmed that while suspensions have not been carried out, the state government has removed two of the officers from election-related duties.

The four polling officers, who were flagged by the Commission, are Debottam Dutta Chowdhury and Tathagata Mandal of Baruipur East Assembly Constituency in South 24 Parganas, Biplob Sarkar and Sudipta Das of Maina constituency in East Midnapore.

The Commission also recommended filing an FIR against Surjit Halder, a casual data entry operator involved in Form-6 processing.

In his letter, Pant stated that no strict punitive action has been taken yet, but an internal probe is underway.

He argued that district and block-level officers carry multiple administrative responsibilities, and certain tasks are often delegated to subordinates based on trust.

Pant cautioned that suspending officers with long records of “dedication and efficiency” before a full investigation could demoralise not only the accused but also the wider administrative workforce.

The move has been seen as a deliberate balancing act by the Bengal government. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has previously stated in a public rally in Jhargram that no officer would be suspended over the matter.

Notably, no action has been taken against the two WBCS executive officers, the two accused EROs, named in the EC’s suspension order, while only a subordinate employee and a contractual data entry operator have been removed from election duties.