West Bengal chief secretary sends compliance letter to EC; FIRs filed against four officers | India News

New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty on Tuesday informed the Election Commission about the partial compliance of the commission’s directions pending with the state government – filing an FIR against four officials for data protection violations and suspending the Basirhat Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) – by the February 31 deadline.However, approval is pending on the EC directive to Chakraborty on February 13 to quash the transfer order issued by the state government to three electoral roll observers – Ashwini Kumar Yadav, Randhir Kumar and Smita Pandey – without prior consultation with the election panel. Also, the state government is yet to send a proposal for appointment of Returning Officers (ROs) and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) as per the criteria laid down by the EC.

As per rules they have to be officers of the level of Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) or Revenue Divisional Officer. At present, out of 294 assembly constituencies (ACs) in the state, only 67 have ROs and only 68 ACs have ERO SDO/SDM posts. Confirming the receipt of the consent letter from the West Bengal chief secretary on Tuesday, EC sources told TOI that the commission, which is currently on a visit to Assam, “will examine the letter after returning here”.Meanwhile, the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal, in a post on Tuesday X, said he has sacked three micro-observers based on the reports of EC-appointed district electoral roll observers. “Electoral roll micro observers under deputation to ECI are directed to discharge their duties diligently and not to outsource/delegate their work to anyone else, failing which they will be liable for the consequences,” he posted.Only on Sunday, the EC suspended seven Euros in the state with immediate effect for “dereliction of duty”. During a meeting with the West Bengal Chief Secretary here last week, the EC asked the state administration to comply with the directions regarding payment of honorarium to BLOs, appointment of appropriate SIR/poll-related officials, withdrawal of unilateral transfer of roll observers and registration of FIRs against erring officials, by 5.30 February 71 at the latest.The deadline set by the EC on February 17, 5.30 pm, however, was not related to the due honorarium.