The Election Commission has warned all officials, particularly those involved in booth-level jobs as part of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, that stringent action would be taken in case of erroneous entries in draft rolls, which are to be published on December 9.

The move comes in the wake of complaints that booth-level officials (BLOs) were distributing enumeration forms from the offices of political parties. In most cases, complaints pointed to the Trinamool Congress.

There were also complaints that some BLOs were handing over the forms for distribution to booth-level agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties.

“Please note that the draft list is prepared only for those signed enumeration forms which are returned back by the electors in the 2025 voter list. If some dead, shifted, absent or ghost voters manage to have their names inserted in the draft list, then the axe will fall on the poor BLOs.... BLOs should not outsource their statutory duties under any circumstances whatsoever,” reads a message sent to the district magistrates from the office of the chief electoral officer, Manoj Agarwal, in Calcutta.

Sources in the poll panel said that district magistrates were also asked to sensitise the BLOs and their supervisors, the AEROs and EROs.

Officials carrying out the exercise at the grassroots have been asked to be ethical and meticulous about distributing and collecting enumeration forms from voters in the wake of complaints coming from many quarters of BLOs violating norms on their own or under political pressure.

CEO Agarwal held a video conference with the EROs in the state late on Wednesday to make the poll panel’s stand clear about the erroneous entries in the draft rolls.

“The draft rolls to be published on December 9 would include names of those who have returned enumeration forms. The forms that would be returned would bear the signature of the BLOs declaring he or she had checked all details of the voter whose form was submitted. If it is found that erroneous entries were made based on the forms signed by the BLOs, the BLOs would face stern measures, including suspension,” said a senior bureaucrat.

On the ground, some BLOs have decided to conduct checks on their own.

“If I find any of the voters were dead when I am visiting the residences, I will not issue the form. Instead, I am keeping it with me by writing ‘DEAD’ on the top of the form. This would prevent misuse of the forms and wrongful entry in the draft rolls,” said a BLO working in Howrah.

A district magistrate said the practice would help them know how many voters in the 2025 electoral rolls were dead before the draft rolls were published.

“But it would not work in the areas where the BLOs were not visiting the homes to distribute forms and were handing over the forms to BLAs. This is the reason why the EC has asked to be very cautious in discharging their duties,” said an official.