Voter List Tampering Case: Election Commission Points Finger at West Bengal Government in High Court
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has told the Calcutta High Court that the West Bengal government didn’t fully follow its orders on voter list tampering. In a report submitted on Wednesday, the ECI said the court should ask the state for details if it wants to know more about the issue. This comes amid serious allegations of fake entries in the voter list, raising questions about election integrity in West Bengal.
The case started with Arun Gharai, a suspended polling worker from Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas. As an Assistant System Manager, he helped revise the voter list but faced trouble after blowing the whistle. Gharai claims police are framing him in a false case to silence him, and he’s asked for protection from arrest. The High Court, led by Justice Amrita Singh, has extended his protection until November 11, with the next hearing set for that day.
Back in August, Gharai sought anticipatory bail and demanded a CBI probe. He alleged that fake birth, death, and residence certificates from a local gram panchayat were used to add, change, or shift names in the voter list. The court then asked the ECI to file an affidavit on the steps taken and the complaints. That’s the report submitted now.
The ECI’s lawyer, Soumya Majumdar, explained that they ordered the state to suspend four officers and file FIRs against them for tampering with the voter list. But the West Bengal government only suspended two and skipped the FIRs entirely. "Let the High Court get the info from the state," the ECI said. They want to uncover why the orders weren’t followed—could someone be protecting these officers, and on whose instructions?
This isn’t the first time. Last month, the state partially acted on ECI directives by suspending four officials: two Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and two Assistant EROs from Moyna and Baruipur Purba Assembly Constituencies. But again, no FIRs. The ECI had also targeted a fifth person, data entry operator Surjit Halder, along with ERO Debottam Dutta Chowdhury, AERO Tathagata Mandal, ERO Biplob Sarkar, and AERO Sudipta Das, for alleged voter list malpractices. All faced suspension orders and calls for criminal action.
The ECI assured the court it won’t go easy. If anyone else is caught tampering with the voter list, they’ll face departmental probes and FIRs under the law. On a positive note, preparations for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list are underway in West Bengal. A notification is coming soon to clean it up—removing ineligible names and keeping only valid ones. This could fix many issues with fake voter entries.
Gharai himself was suspended and hit with an FIR on ECI orders, and his criminal case is ongoing. He insists he’s a whistleblower exposing corruption. As the drama unfolds, eyes are on the High Court to dig deeper into West Bengal voter list tampering and ensure fair elections.
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