The Election Commission of India (ECI) has suspended Arun Gorain, assistant system manager of Kakdwip subdivision in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, for alleged gross misconduct after getting complaints from the district administration.
Acting on the instructions of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, the chief electoral officer of West Bengal placed Gorain under immediate suspension. He was found guilty of gross misconduct in the discharge of his official duties, with malafide intent, officials said.
Gorain allegedly committed fraud and cheating by unauthorisedly inserting his mobile number into the login credentials of the assistant electoral registration officer (AERO) for Assembly Constituency 131 (Kakdwip). Using the OTP received on his mobile, he disposed of applications filed under Forms 6, 7, and 8 through the AERO’s login, it has been alleged.
“Based on the report received from District Election Officer, South 24 Parganas, Sri Arun Gorai, Assistant System Manager, Kakdwip Subdivision has been suspended due to dereliction in discharge of his duties and disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against him,” the CEO office of West Bengal said.
Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, claimed that this action proved their allegation that fake names had been included in the voter list. “I warmly welcome the decisive action by the Chief Electoral Officer; West Bengal, suspending Assistant System Manager, Kakdwip Subdivision; Arun Gorain, for his gross misconduct. This follows our complaint exposing the shocking connivance between the ERO, AERO, other Officials involved in the Election Management Process in the District Level across the State and local TMC leaders, who are attempting to delete the names of unsuspecting Hindu Voters from the voter list,” he said in a post on X.
On Saturday, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, inaugurated a one-day capacity-building and training programme for system managers, assistant system managers and data entry operators of all 24 districts of the state at Ahindra Mancha in Kolkata.
One hundred and sixteen election officials, including 12 system managers, 49 assistant system managers and 55 data entry operators, took part in the training programme. The training is designed to enhance participants’ practical understanding, especially in electronic systems related to the election process.
The participants were familiarised with different aspects of the systems and had also been trained on related legal provisions on IT protocol, ECI guidelines etc.