Bengal govt digs in heels, tells EC to back off on suspending ‘tainted’ officers

Mamata Banerjee’s administration refuses to bow to Election Commission demands, defending officers accused of election roll irregularities and challenging the poll panel’s authority.

Kolkata: A day after the West Bengal government wrote to the Election Commission of India that it doesn't intend to suspend just yet its officers alleged to have committed "irregularities" in electoral roll revision, the poll panel on Tuesday summoned state Chief Secretary Manoj Pant to Delhi to explain the decision, sources said.

The state's top bureaucrat was directed to report in person to Nirvachan Sadan, the ECI headquarters in the national capital, by 5 pm on August 13.

The move came in response to Pant's communication to the ECI on Monday, stating that suspending the identified officers and filing FIRs against them, as directed by the poll panel, would be "disproportionately harsh" and have "demoralising impact" on the officers' community in Bengal.

The government, instead, chose to remove two of the five ECI-identified officials from active election duty for now and initiate an "internal inquiry" into the matter.

It is interpreted by observers as a fresh flash point in the ongoing face-off between the Mamata Banerjee government and the ECI.

Sources in the state secretariat 'Nabanna' said that the chief secretary was likely to fly to Delhi on Wednesday and meet the Commission, as directed.

Pant on Monday had responded to an EC-set deadline to execute a suspension order against five officials - two Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and two Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) - and a casual data entry operator for allegedly committing irregularities while preparing electoral rolls in Baruipur Purba and Moyna assembly constituencies in South 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur districts respectively.

The poll panel had also directed the chief secretary to lodge FIRs against all five accused and sought an action taken report from the top bureaucrat at the earliest.

Any disciplinary measure without holding a thorough inquiry on state government officers who have "consistently demonstrated sincerity and competence" would be "disproportionately harsh", the chief secretary wrote to the ECI in his response.

The government informed the Commission that it had removed two personnel - Sudipta Das, AERO, Moyna AC, and Surajit Halder, data entry operator at Baruipur Purba AC - from electoral revision and poll-related duties as "a first step" in its process of assigning responsibility for the alleged irregularity.

The state's response did not mention any action taken against the three other officers identified by the ECI, two of whom are officers of WBCS (Executive) rank, and stated that "further action taken report will be submitted post completion of enquiry".

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had questioned the Commission's jurisdiction and legality of the move while alleging that the BJP was using the ECI to "intimidate state government officers".

"We will not suspend them; We will protect you. I will continue to be your 'pehredar' (guard)," Banerjee said at a public meeting in Jhargram last week, while tearing into the poll panel, and accusing it of functioning like "bonded labourers" of the BJP.