Voter list ‘tampering’: Bengal govt didn’t fully implement ECI's order, Calcutta HC told

Kolkata, Sep 10 The West Bengal government has not fully implemented the Election Commission of India's (ECI) order, and if the court wants information about the tampering of the voter list, let it be sought from the state government, the Election Commission said in a report submitted to the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday.

The submission was made in a case filed by a suspended polling worker regarding the alleged tampering of the voter list.

Election Commission's lawyer Soumya Majumdar said that the state government was instructed by ECI to immediately suspend four officers for tampering with the voter list and file an FIR against them. But the state suspended only two officers and did not file an FIR against any officer. Taking this position, the High Court should seek information from the state.

The Commission said that when information comes, it will be clear why the Commission's order was not followed. The Election Commission said it needs to be known what the real reason was behind not filing an FIR and whether someone is deliberately hiding those officers. It further said that on whose orders it is being done, it will also be known.

The election body assured the High Court that if any officer is found guilty of tampering with the voter list in the future, not only will a departmental investigation be conducted, but also a criminal case will be filed as per the law.

The Commission told the court that preparations for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process of the voter list have already begun in West Bengal. A formal notification will be issued in this regard soon. Through this amendment, the names of ineligible people will be removed, and the names of eligible people will remain in the voter list.

It may be noted that the petitioner, Arun Gharai, was working as an Assistant System Manager in the Kakdwip sub-division of South 24 Parganas district. He was involved in the work of revising the voter list. As per ECI's order, the state government had filed an FIR against him, and later, he was suspended. Now a criminal case is going on against him.

Claiming to be a 'whistleblower', Arun alleged in the High Court that the police are trying to frame him in a false case. They want to arrest him; therefore, he should be given protection. The bench of Justice Amrita Singh accepted Arun's application and extended the protection till November 11. The next hearing of the case will be held on that day.

Incidentally, on August 25, Arun had applied for anticipatory bail in the High Court. He told the court that a large number of fake birth and death certificates were issued from a gram panchayat in the Kakdwip area. He alleged that names were being added, changed or transferred in the voter list on the basis of fake birth, death and residence certificates.

Arun also sought a CBI probe into the incident. While hearing the case at that time, the court had directed the Commission to submit an affidavit to the court stating the steps taken. An affidavit should also be filed regarding the allegations of the complainant. The affidavit was submitted by the Commission on Wednesday.

The development came after the West Bengal government last month partly complied with the ECI directive by suspending four officials- two Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and two Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) of Moyna and Baruipur Purba Assembly Constituencies for alleged voter list malpractices. However, the state government did not lodge FIRs against the officials as mandated by the ECI.

This disciplinary action has been taken on the orders of the Election Commission.

Serious allegations were made against the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) of Baruipur East, Debottam Dutta Chowdhury, the AERO of that centre, Tathagata Mandal, and the ERO of Maina Biplob Sarkar and the AERO of that centre, Sudipta Das. The name of a data entry operator named Surjit Halder was also on the list. They were accused of tampering with the voter list. On this allegation, the Election Commission had directed that these five should be suspended as well, and an FIR should be lodged against them.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor