The Election Commission of India has instructed West Bengal authorities to immediately register FIRs against four suspended electoral officers
The officials allegedly added fake or non-existent voters’ names in two Assembly constituencies prompting the ECI to intervene after months of inaction
The ECI has issued repeated reminders since August 2025 stressing that electoral roll manipulation is a serious offence
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has intervened to push for criminal action against four electoral officials in West Bengal after repeated delays by the state administration in registering cases linked to alleged voter list manipulation. On Saturday, January 10, 2026, the Commission sent a reminder to the offices of the District Magistrates and the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, directing them to ensure that FIRs are registered without any further delay.
The FIRs are to be filed against four suspended officers accused of irregularities in voter enrolment in two Assembly constituencies. The officials are Debottam Dutta Chowdhury, Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) of Baruipur East Assembly constituency in South 24-Parganas, and Tathagata Mandal, Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) of the same constituency, as well as Biplob Sarkar, ERO of Moyna Assembly constituency in East Midnapore, and Sudipta Das, AERO of Moyna.
Sources in the CEO’s office said the ECI’s instructions from New Delhi have been formally communicated to CEO West Bengal Manoj Kumar Agarwal and to the District Magistrates of South 24-Parganas and East Midnapore. The Commission has expressed concern over what it described as avoidable delays by district authorities in acting on its earlier orders.
The allegations relate to tampering with electoral rolls during the enumeration phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists. The officers are accused of adding fake or non-existent names to the rolls. A contractual data entry operator, Surajit Halder, was also linked to the alleged irregularities.
The ECI had first issued directions in August 2025, ordering the suspension of the four officers and calling for FIRs to be registered. While the state government complied with the suspensions and removed the data entry operator from duty, criminal cases were not filed.
Earlier this month, due to continued inaction, the Election Commission took suo motu action and directly instructed district administrations to register FIRs. After learning that this had still not been done, the Commission sent another reminder on Saturday, marking the third time it has stressed the need to begin criminal proceedings.
The Election Commission has reiterated that any manipulation of electoral rolls is a serious offence and must be addressed through criminal action.
(With Inputs From IANS)
[VP]
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