The Election Commission on Monday suspended three officials on election duty at the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency for “dereliction of duty” and ordered departmental proceedings against them.

Suranjan Das, Souvik Nandy and Satyaranjan Paul were suspended through separate circulars issued on Monday evening.

Das was appointed as the magistrate of the flying squad team in Bhabanipur for the night shift from 9pm on April 17 to 7am on April 18.

According to one of the circulars, D. Ranjith Kumar, the expenditure observer of Kolkata Port and Bhabanipur Assembly constituencies, found Das and his team “sitting idle” near Bhabanipur police station around 10.30pm.

The circular stated: “He had not performed any work till that time, and nothing was recorded in the register... This lack of seriousness is creating a hindrance in the efforts of the ECI to create a free, fair and transparent poll environment.”

The other two — Nandy and Paul — were entrusted with similar responsibilities during the night shift from 9pm on April 17 to 7am on April 18. Both were found “sitting idle” near the Bhabanipur police station.

The flying squad teams are mobile units deployed by the EC to monitor and stop the illegal movement of cash, liquor, and arms ahead of the polls.

Sources in the EC said over 170 such teams are working in Calcutta alongside the surveillance teams.