Execute Suspension Order of 4 Officials by Monday: EC to State

PTI, KOLKATA, AUG 8, 2025 :  In a fresh notice to State Chief Secretary Manoj Pant on Friday, the Election Commission of India set the state government a deadline of 3 pm on August 11 to execute its decision to suspend four officials and submit an action taken compliance report.

The letter, signed by ECI Secretary Sujeet Kumar Mishra, was shot off a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee publicly declared that she would not execute the suspension order and "assured" the bureaucratic fraternity of standing by the officers as their 'pehredar' (guard), indicating a fresh escalation of face-offs between the two authorities.

The Commission on Tuesday 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.

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. Two among the five penalised state government employees – Debottam Dutta Choudhury and Biplab Sarkar, operating as EROs – are officers of the WBCS (Executive) rank.

“No compliance report indicating specific action taken against each of the officers has been received in the Commission so far,” the ECI notice on Friday stated. “The Commission has directed that necessary action against the above officers shall be taken immediately and a compliance report be furnished to the Commission, latest by 3.00 PM on 11th August, 2025,” the notice read.

CM Banerjee had questioned the Commission’s jurisdiction and legality of the move and alleged 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’,” Banerjee said at a public meeting in Jhargram on Tuesday, while tearing into the poll panel and accusing it of functioning like “bonded labourers” of the BJP.