Kolkata, February 17 Acting on an ultimatum from the Election Commission, the West Bengal government registered FIRs against five state government employees on Tuesday, including two EROs and two AEROs, for alleged "grave lapses" and violations of data security policies during electoral roll revisions as part of the ongoing SIR exercise in the state.
The action was taken six months after the commission had directed the state to initiate criminal cases against the accused.
Police complaints were filed just hours before the EC-set deadline of 5 pm.
The development took place amid Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's statement that the state government would stand firmly beside all its employees and that the move was "not to be taken seriously".
The accused personnel were allegedly involved in adding over a hundred fictitious names to voter lists in the Baruipur Purba Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district and in Moyna AC in Purba Medinipur.
In August last year, the commission had directed the state government to suspend the five officials and register FIRs against them after uncovering the alleged professional misconduct.
The five officials – Debottam Dutta Chowdhury and Tathagata Mandal, ERO and AERO of Baruipur Purba respectively; Biplab Sarkar and Sudipta Das, ERO and AERO of Moyna respectively; and Surojit Halder, a casual data entry operator – were accused of sharing login credentials with unauthorized persons, allowing the insertion of names in the electoral rolls, and failing to perform mandatory duties.
Although the state government suspended the officials, it initially did not register FIRs, claiming the actions were "unintentional mistakes".
Citing section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the EC rejected the state's stand, issued reminders in January and set a deadline of February 17 for filing the FIRs.
Last month, the poll panel questioned the disciplinary proceedings of the state that had cleared three officials and imposed a minor penalty on another. The fifth accused, the data entry operator, had been removed from all poll-related duties.
On February 13, the Election Commission met with West Bengal Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravorty at Nirvachan Sadan in Delhi and set a fresh deadline for the state to file FIRs against the officials alleged to have erred during the SIR exercise.
This was the second such summoning of the state's top bureaucrat by the EC following the poll panel's summons to Chakravorty's predecessor Manoj Pant in August last year after the state government had initially refused to suspend the five officials on the commission's directive.
Calling the EC a "Tughlaqi Commission", Banerjee on Tuesday reiterated the government's position to stand beside all officials accused of dereliction in duty by the poll body.
"We have carried out the Commission's instructions out of courtesy for the poll body. But these things need not be taken seriously. Multiple FIRs were lodged against me when I protested the NRC exercise in Assam. This is not a major problem. We will stand with the officers of the state. There is law that has to be followed and if there are violations to it, then the law will take its own course," Banerjee said at a press conference at Nabanna, the state secretariat.
"Remember, the officers weren't allowed to defend themselves. I know officers who have worked night and day for this exercise. They will keep working in roles other than those related to elections, no one will lose their jobs. If the EC demotes any officer of the state, then I will promote them," she added.
In a separate development, the EC suspended seven AEROs across four Bengal districts with immediate effect on Sunday for "serious misconduct, dereliction of duty and misuse of statutory powers" in connection with the ongoing SIR exercise.
The poll authority also directed Chakravorty to initiate disciplinary proceedings against these officials by their respective cadre controlling authorities, without any delay and apprise the Commission in this regard.
As of the last reports, the state was yet to act on those directions.