The leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, on Saturday alleged that the block development officer of Santipur in Nadia overstepped his authority as an assistant electoral registration officer (AERO) by calling an all-party meeting to identify dead and shifted voters while asking political outfits to provide the lists of booth-level agents.

“The BDO of Shantipur ; Nadia District, who is also the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer of the 86-Shantipur & 87-Ranaghat Uttar Paschim Assembly Constituencies, has clearly overstepped his authority as no such order or instructions were issued by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) West Bengal or the Election Commission of India,” Adhikari wrote on his X-handle.

He explained why he considered the move by the BDO of Santipur as an attempt to go beyond his authority. He wrote that such an exercise — beyond the regular electoral roll revision that takes place between November and January every year — would have to be undertaken following specific instructions from the chief electoral officer
of Bengal.

“The final Voter List has already been published on 5th January 2025 and any such revision process has to be an exception which can only be carried out after specific instructions have been issued by the CEO West Bengal or the ECI, which is just not the case here,” Adhikari wrote.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had alleged that the BJP was adding the names of “fake” voters to the electoral roll in collusion with the ECI.

The Santipur BDO, Sandip Ghosh, said he did nothing wrong as the rectification of electoral rolls was a year-round exercise for the past two years.

“I have done nothing beyond the law. The rectification of electoral rolls has been a round-the-year job for the past two years. People submit online applications for enrollment and rectifications and we conduct hearings accordingly. Now mainly, the booth-level agents’ data have been sought for updation... I urged political parties to share their details,” said the BDO.

A senior government official said applying online for enrollment on the voters’ list was a round-the-year exercise and the verification of the applicants was also permissible.

“But I am not sure that deletion of names from the electoral roll can be termed as a regular exercise beyond the regular electoral roll revision that takes place in a certain period every year. As far as my knowledge goes, such exercise would require the CEO’s permission,” said a bureaucrat who had worked with the chief electoral officer’s office.

However, another senior official felt the BDO did nothing wrong as the guidelines of the ECI did not make it clear that the names of dead and shifted voters could not be deleted as a part of the regular update of the electoral roll. “If the BDO had mala fide intention, he would not have called an all-party meeting,” he said.