KOLKATA: After remaining inactive for nearly five months, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday directed West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (WBCEO) Manoj Agarwal to ensure the immediate registration of FIRs against five state government officials, including two WBCS officers, for irregularities in electoral roll revisions in two Assembly constituencies – Baruipur Purba in South 24-Parganas and Moyna in East Midnapore.
The officials include two Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), two Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), and one casual data entry operator. The ECI’s fresh directive comes after the state government had failed to lodge FIRs despite suspending the officials in August 2025, following an earlier ECI instruction.
On 5 August, the ECI had directed then Chief Secretary Manoj Pant to suspend the four government officials and lodge FIRs against them with the concerned police stations. While the Bengal government implemented the suspensions on 20 August, the FIRs were not registered, prompting renewed action by the ECI ahead of the upcoming elections.
In a letter to Agarwal, ECI Secretary Sujeet Kumar Mishra wrote, “The commission had directed that the aforesaid officials be suspended and FIRs lodged against all of them for their failure to perform statutory duties and for violating data security policies by sharing login credentials with unauthorised persons. While the State Government effected the suspensions, the direction regarding FIR registration remains non-compliant to date.”
The ECI has now instructed Agarwal to ensure that the concerned District Election Officers (DEOs) immediately register FIRs under Section 32 of the Representation of People Act, 1950, along with relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and the Information Technology Act, 2000. A compliance report is to be submitted to the Commission at the earliest.
The officials implicated are:
EROs: Debottam Dutta Choudhury, WBCS (Exe), Project Director (Monitoring), District Rural Development Cell, South 24-Parganas; Biplab Sarkar, WBCS (Exe), District Officer, Minority Affairs, East Midnapore.
AEROs: Tathagata Mondal, Assistant Programme Officer, MGNREGS, Joynagar, South 24-Parganas; Sudipta Das, Panchayat Accounts and Audit Officer, Tamluk, East Midnapore.
Casual Data Entry Operator: Name not specified.
The five officials allegedly shared login credentials, leading to the inclusion of fake voters in the electoral rolls. They were summoned by the WBCEO in July for clarification and found involved in irregularities during a random sampling audit conducted by the ECI. The fresh directive orders all DEOs to act promptly to ensure compliance.