In a strong move, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday (5th August) suspended four election officials in West Bengal, who reportedly allowed fake voter applications to be registered by misusing their authority. Their actions were exposed during a sample checking of voter application forms (Form 6) for routine updates to the electoral roll by the West Bengal Election Commission.
Two Electoral Registration Offices (EROs), namely Debottam Dutta Choudhary and Biplab Sarkar and two Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), namely Tathagata Mondal and Sudipta Das, have been suspended by the ECI with immediate effect ECI has also ordered disciplinary proceedings against the officers without delay.
The Commission said that the actions of the officers amount to criminal misconduct and, therefore, also ordered the filing of FIRs against all four officials. Besides, the ECI also directed an FIR to be lodged against the casual Data Entry Operator, Surojit Haldar.
Election Commission has suspended 2 ERO (Electoral Registration Office) and 2 AERO (Assistant Electoral Registration Officers) for committing grave lapses and failing to perform their duties, violating the policy of data security while sharing their login credentials of the ER… pic.twitter.com/gjD1lCrQrw
— ANI (@ANI) August 5, 2025
“The Commission has taken sserious naote of the grave lapses committed by the officers,” the ECI said in a letter addressed to the Chief Secretary, West Bengal. “…FIRs be lodged against the above mentioned erring EROs and AEROs for their action, which potentially amount to criminal misconduct. Furthermore, FIR shall also be lodged against the Data Entry Operator Surojit Haldar,” the ECI said. The ECI said that the conduct of the four election officers invites a penalty under Section 32(1) of the Representation of People Act, 1950.
EROs admitted to sharing login credentials before the CEO of West Bengal
The names of the four officers came up during an inspection of voter application data in West Bengal. The Chief Election Officer (CEO) of West Bengal found that several fake voter names were added to the voter list. Consequently, the officers were summoned by the commission. During questioning, they admitted that they shared their login credentials to the ERO.net portal with unauthorised persons.
The officials did not follow proper procedure for the registration of voter application forms by dispensing with the requirement of BLOs’ verification of the forms. As a result, the CEO of West Bengal ordered an urgent investigation into the matter and directed the District Election Officer (DEO) to form a team of senior officials and conduct a sample check of all the voter application forms disposed of during the last year, and submit a report by August 14, 2025.
Mamata Banerjee opposed electoral revision in her state
There are reports of the Election Commission conducting a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in West Bengal ahead of the assembly elections next year. However, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has clearly stated that she would not allow an electoral revision, which is a routine exercise to update the voter list, in her state. One might wonder what could be the rationale behind a Chief Minister stopping the updation of the electoral roll in her state, which the Election Commission is mandated to do by law.
Concerns regarding fake voters being added to the electoral roll in West Bengal have been consistently raised by the BJP. Last year in February, a 6-member delegation of the BJP led by Suvendu Adhikari submitted a memorandum to the CEO of West Bengal alleging that there were 16 lakh fake or duplicate votes in the state.
In 2022, a video of TMC leader and Bardhaman Dakshin MLA Khokan Das had gone viral, in which he was seen urging his party workers to make sure that Bangladeshi immigrants who support the ruling TMC in West Bengal would be placed on the voters’ list. There have been suspicions of voter count increasing sharply in some Muslim-dominated areas in the state.
