West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday stated that her government would always stand by the employees involved in the voter list revision work, an official said.

Banerjee's statement came on a day when the ECI summoned Chief Secretary Manoj Pant to Delhi to explain the state government's decision not to suspend just yet its officers alleged to have committed "irregularities" in electoral roll revision, as directed by the poll panel.

In a meeting with district administration officials at state secretariat Nabanna on Tuesday, Banerjee advised the workers to carry out their duties honestly and without any fear, he said.

"The chief minister said during the meeting that those engaged in voter list work must not be kept in a state of fear. She referred to the NRC process in Assam, and accused the Assam government of creating panic among residents. She said that the West Bengal government would stand beside its people," the official said.

The ECI had directed the chief secretary to suspend four officers and a casual data entry operator for allegedly committing "irregularities" in electoral roll revision.

The chief secretary, however, communicated to the ECI on Monday, stating that suspending the identified officers and filing FIRs against them would be "disproportionately harsh" and have "demoralising impact" on the officers' community in Bengal.

The government, instead, chose to remove two of the five ECI-identified officials from active election duty for now and initiate an "internal inquiry" into the matter.

On Tuesday, the chief minister made a surprise appearance at a meeting of District Magistrates (DMs), called by the Chief Secretary Manoj Pant on the 'Aamader Para, Aamader Samadhan' mass outreach programme, and expressed her disgust over the growing incidents of crimes in the past couple of months.

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