EC rejects Bengal govt’s plea, orders FIR against electoral officers accused of tampering voters list
The Statesman | 18 January 2026
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has rejected the West Bengal government’s plea seeking withdrawal of EC’s earlier order to take strong disciplinary action against four electoral officers in the state. The Commission has instructed the district magistrates and the district electoral officers (DEOs) to register FIRs against the accused electoral officers.
The ECI communicated the same to the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) office yesterday through an official communique. The state government’s Home Department had submitted the plea to the ECI through the office of the state CEO on Friday, seeking suspension of the poll body’s order for disciplinary actions against these four electoral officers.
Two electoral registration officers (EROs) and two assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs) were allegedly involved in tampering with the voters’ enrolment process in two assembly constituencies.
ECI has ordered registration of FIRs against Debottam Dutta Chowdhury, the ERO of Baruipur East Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district, and Tathagata Mandal, the AERO of the same constituency.
The other two officers are Biplob Sarkar, the ERO of Moyna Assembly constituency in East Midnapore district, and Sudipta Das, the AERO of the constituency.
Notably, the Election Commission had directed the West Bengal CEO in August last year to suspend these four electoral officers and lodge FIRs against them. However, the state government partially complied with the poll body’s directions. It had suspended the accused officers but did not register any FIR.
As a reminder, the ECI’s headquarters in the national capital again issued orders earlier this month directing the district magistrates of South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore to register FIRs against the four electoral officers.
For the ECI’s order against the four electoral officers of the state, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the poll body of being the “bonded labour of the BJP”. She had also asserted that her government would not take any action against its employees.