Kolkata, February 14 The Election Commission has set February 17 as the deadline for the West Bengal government to register FIRs against four officers over the alleged inclusion of "ghost" voters in the electoral rolls in two districts, an official said on Saturday.
The commission had earlier ordered the suspension of two electoral registration officers (EROs) and two assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs) from Baruipur Purba in South 24 Parganas and Moyna in Purba Medinipur districts over alleged inclusion of "fake" or "ghost" voters in the electoral rolls.
It had also directed the authorities to register FIRs at the concerned police stations against them.
Earlier, the commission had instructed the district election officers (DEOs) concerned to register FIRs against the four officers and one staff member over alleged irregularities, including the illegal inclusion of names in the West Bengal voters' list.
In response, the state government had informed the commission that it had suspended the four officers and initiated departmental proceedings, seeking additional time before filing FIRs.
Despite the passage of several months, FIRs have not been registered, prompting the commission to impose the deadline, the EC official said.
The Election Commission has been conducting the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls in the state.
On December 16 last year, the commission published the draft electoral rolls after the first phase of the SIR, with the electorate dropping from 7.66 crore to 7.08 crore following the deletion of over 58 lakh names.
The second phase involved hearings of 1.67 crore electors under scrutiny, including 1.36 crore flagged for logical discrepancies, and 31 lakh whose records lack mapping. The final voters' list is expected by the end of this month.
