In a significant development, West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant (IAS:1991:WB) appeared before the Election Commission (EC) in New Delhi on Wednesday (August 13, 2025) after being summoned over the state government’s refusal to suspend “tainted” officers accused of irregularities in electoral roll revision.
Pant reached the EC headquarters around 4:30 PM and left by 6 PM, meeting Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and other election commissioners. The summons followed his communication to the EC on Monday, stating that suspending the identified officers and lodging FIRs, as directed, would be “disproportionately harsh” and could “demoralise” the officers’ community in the state.
Earlier, on August 5, the EC had ordered the suspension of four officials and a casual data entry operator for alleged voter list fraud involving forged documents, alongside instructions to file FIRs against them. The poll panel had asked Pant to report in person by 5 PM on August 13.
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