The Election Commission of India (ECI) has ordered West Bengal state election authorities to file FIRs against five state government officials for irregularities reported in two Assembly constituencies regarding the revision of electoral rolls. The five officials include two WBCS officers for illegal entries of names of non-existent voters in the voter rolls.
Officials implicated in voter fraud
The order applies to two Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), two Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), and one casual data entry operator. The EROs are Debottam Dutta Choudhury, WBCS (Exe), Project Director, District Rural Development Cell, South 24-Parganas, and Biplab Sarkar, WBCS (Exe), District Officer, Minority Affairs, East Midnapore.
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The AEROs are Tathagata Mandal, Assistant Programme Officer, MGNREGS, Joynagar, South 24-Parganas, and Sudipta Das, Panchayat Accounts & Audit Officer, Tamluk, East Midnapore. However, the name of the data entry operator has not been disclosed.
How fake voter entries surfaced
These irregularities occurred in the wake of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls. These officials are accused of sharing their login credentials with unauthorised individuals, causing the entry of fraudulent voters. They were called by the Chief Electoral Officer of the state of West Bengal in July 2025 for an explanation and were later identified to have been involved in the irregularities after the random sampling audit test conducted by the ECI.
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Earlier ECI directives ignored
The Election Commission had earlier asked the State Government to suspend these officials and register FIRs against them in August 2025. Although the suspensions took place, the FIRs were not registered, for which the ECI had to move suo moto. It was in its latest order that ECI Secretary Sujeet Kumar Mishra asked WBCEO Manoj Agarwal to make sure that the concerned District Election Officers register FIRs under Section 32 of the Representation of People Act, 1950, along with corresponding provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Information Technology Act, 2000.
The Commission has demanded a compliance report as early as possible, indicating a very tight surveillance in view of the upcoming elections.
