The Election Commission on Friday pulled up district magistrates, who are also district election officers, during a video-conference for allegedly verifying bogus documents, including newspaper cuttings, blank pages and unclear images, in addition to testimonials outside the specified list, during the SIR drive.

The rebuke came on a day Bengal chief secretary Nandini Chakravorty rushed to Delhi in response to a summons from Nirvachan Sadan to explain why several directives from the EC hadn’t been adhered to.

Sources present at the video-conference said top EC officials raised several questions over the activities of the DEOs during the SIR after many anomalies had been detected in the uploading and verification of documents submitted by voters during hearings.

“The top brass of the EC was astonished to see that several unlisted documents were verified by the DEOs despite several warnings from the poll panel. They raised several questions like how those documents were uploaded, who uploaded the same and why the DMs verified those,” said a senior official present at the video meet.

The EC did not stop by raising questions, but also directed the DMs to clean up all fictitious documents from the system by 5pm on February 16.

“By Monday, all the DEOs should personally verify that all the documents that have been uploaded are in line with the approved list. If a single document is discovered after the deadline, the DM concerned should be held personally responsible,” said a bureaucrat while quoting the top brass of the poll panel.

The EC also warned the DEOs, electoral registration officers (EROs) and assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs) and asked them to ensure that no foreigner or ineligible voter was enrolled. Warning the officers, the EC said that documents, which would be verified and based on which the EROs or AEROs would enrol voters, would stay in the system for years and if any anomaly was detected even after five years, the officers would be prosecuted.

“It is a very risky gamble for the IAS officers who have long careers left,” said a source.

The Nirvachan Sadan also asked why documents submitted by the voters during the hearings were being uploaded so late, while the majority of the hearings had been completed at least seven days before. It asked whether the documents were not being uploaded on time, only to ensure the uploading of the manufactured documents.

The DMs of Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Malda, South 24-Parganas and North 24-Parganas were reprimanded for their negligence on several counts during the SIR. The DM of East Burdwan was advised not to make political statements, and the DM of Cooch Behar was pulled up for the delayed uploading of documents. The DM of South 24-Parganas was asked to explain as to why the EROs and AEROs were calling the micro-observers.

The EC has asked the micro-observers to inform it about violations of guidelines by the DEOs, EROs and AEROs. In case of the approval of voters based on inadmissible and illegal documents verified by the DEO, the CEO would recommend action against such officers.

In addition to the stern message sent to the DEOs, the EC had summoned Bengal chief secretary Chakravorty to Nirvachan Sadan during the day. Sources said the chief secretary appeared before the full bench of the EC to explain why the poll panel’s directives could not be implemented
so far.

The EC had asked the state government to lodge FIRs against four officers — former EROs and AEROs — of the Baruipur Purba and Moyna Assembly segments for enrolling fictitious voters. The EC had asked the state to initiate departmental proceedings and lodge an FIR against the BDO of Basirhat II for appointing 11 additional AEROs to conduct hearings without the
EC’s approval.

The government had been directed to revoke transfer orders of three IAS officers — Smita Pandey, Randhir Kumar and Asnhwini Kumar Yadav — after they had been appointed as district electoral roll observers.

“As none of the directives had been implemented, the chief secretary was asked to explain the reason behind the state’s stance. The chief secretary was asked to implement the orders immediately during an hour-long meeting at Nirvachan Sadan,” said an official.

On Friday, the EC appointed retired IPS officer N.K. Sinha as the special observer for the SIR.