The Bengal government has suspended four officials and started departmental proceedings against them, as they are accused of adding fictitious names to the voter list, sources in the administration said.

“The chief secretary, Manoj Pant, has sent a letter to the Election Commission, saying the four accused officials will be suspended and departmental proceedings will be initiated against them. But the letter remained silent on the EC’s directive to lodge FIRs against the officials,” said a source.

Sources at Nabanna later said all the four officials had been suspended.

The fictitious names were added to the electoral rolls in the Moyna and Baruipur (East) Assembly constituencies.

Repeated calls from this newspaper to the chief secretary went unattended.

After the poll panel had asked Pant to act against the four officials, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said at a public programme that the state would not take any action since election notification had not been issued.