Kolkata, April 20 -- The Election Commission of India (ECI) has suspended three magistrates deployed in a flying squad team (FST) in the Bhowanipore Assembly Constituency in Kolkata for alleged dereliction of duty.
According to Commission sources, the three officials were assigned duty as executive magistrates from 9 pm on April 17 to 7 am the following day. However, instead of conducting patrols in their designated area, they were found idling near the Bhowanipore Police Station.
The lapse came to light after Expenditure Observer D Ranjit Kumar conducted a surprise inspection between 10:30 pm and 11 pm. He reportedly found the magistrates and their team engaged in casual conversation, rather than performing their assigned responsibilities.
More significantly, when asked to produce records of their work, the officials failed to provide any documentation. Sources said no entries were found in the duty registers.
The three suspended officials have been identified as Satya Ranjan Pal, a lower division clerk with the Sports Authority of India, Souvik Nandi, a school teacher and Suranjan Das, an upper division clerk in the state government.
The apex poll body on Monday ordered their immediate suspension and directed that departmental proceedings be initiated against them. The District Election Officer (DEO) of South Kolkata stated that such unprofessional conduct poses a serious threat to the conduct of free and fair elections. He further directed that a compliance report be submitted by 2 pm on April 21. The Commission has made it clear that the suspension order cannot be revoked without its approval.
Meanwhile, the poll body has made it clear that the state's civic volunteers, village police, and green police must all be sent to the Police Lines three days prior to the polls.
In a directive to all Superintendents of Police and Commissioners across the state, the Commission has reiterated that the latter should ensure that they abstain from any poll-related duty, while being posted at the Reserve Police Lines.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.