Kolkata, Feb 16 (IANS) Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, on Monday welcomed the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decision to suspend seven Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) engaged in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal.

He was speaking to reporters outside Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport before leaving for Delhi.

“Despite the provisions of the election constitution, the Election Commission had been advising the Chief Secretary till now…. but this is the first time the Election Commission has exercised its power in the SIR process. After that, the Election Commission can also file an FIR if it wants,” said LoP Adhikari.

The BJP leader further said, “These seven people have been suspended for legitimate reasons. They have accepted fake school certificates, they have accepted PAN cards in the SIR hearing process. They have completely violated the 13 guidelines of the Election Commission.”

Adhikari alleged that such malpractices were carried out at the direction of the Mamata Banerjee government.

“This has been done due to the pressure of state secretary Nandini Chakraborty. DM’s or DEO’s did this and Mamata Banerjee is running the entire racket through Nandini Chakraborty,” Adhikari alleged.

Adhikari further criticised the state government for not resolving complaints of Form 7 as asked by the ECI.

“In any state, the Election Commission’s file does not go to the Chief Minister’s table, the administration has to implement it. In West Bengal, the Election Commission files are sent to the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister intervenes directly, which is not done in any state in India. Even the Prime Minister does not do it during national elections. This is done in this state,” he claimed.

“So the Election Commission has made arrangements to rectify this for the first time,” he stated.

The reaction from Adhikari came after the ECI suspended the seven AEROs engaged in the ongoing SIR in the state on charges of dereliction of duty.

To recall, earlier in August last year, the ECI had directed the state government to suspend and register FIRs against two Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and two AEROs against whom charges of being involved in electoral rolls preparation malpractices were proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

The office of the West Bengal Chief Secretary also attracted the ire of the ECI for partially implementing the order by suspending those two EROs and two AEROs, but not registering FIRs against them.

–IANS

sch/rad