State officials suspended by EC won’t lose jobs, says CM

Kolkata: The seven AEROs — all state govt officials — suspended by Election Commission will not lose their jobs, CM Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday, taking her govt's confrontation with the poll panel a notch higher. The EC, late on Sunday, had suspended the seven officials for "misconduct, dereliction of duty and misuse of statutory powers".

Banerjee said if any official is victimised unnecessarily, her govt will protect his/her interests. She questioned how the officials were suspended without being given a chance to explain. "Even a criminal has the right to defend himself," she added.





Declaring that "if they demote anyone, we will promote them", the CM said, "It must be remembered that they have not been given a chance to defend themselves. I know some of them worked day and night. They won't work on preparation of electoral rolls but they will be involved in other developmental work."

The govt on Tuesday, however, complied with the EC's Aug 5 order and filed FIRs against two EROs and two AEROs and suspended the Basirhat II BDO. Chief secretary Nandini Chakravorty, who had been summoned to Delhi by the EC on Friday and set a deadline of Wednesday 5pm, sent a compliance report to the poll panel.

The CM made light of the FIRs as well. "Even I have an FIR lodged against me in Assam for protesting against NRC in Bengal. The law will take its course, there is no need to worry about it," she said and added, "We will obey the law. We will follow EC's instructions. But laws, too, have limits and boundaries. If you (EC) cross these boundaries, you will be hit out of the park by the public."

Accusing EC of acting as BJP's agent and comparing chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to the eccentric emperor Muhammad Bin Tughlaq and Hitler, Banerjee said, "I would like to call the Election Commission ‘torture commission.' They operate like Tughlaq and Hitler. I want to ask them — isn't it the public who elects a govt? Or is it a Tughlaq-styled commission that will select a govt? He [CEC Kumar] is a member of a political party and provides unfair advantage to that party before polls…. They are trying to destroy the democratic fabric of India."

Taking a dig at the CEC, she said, "Look at the Bangladesh election, how they did it peacefully. Your threat culture is killing democracy." Reminding the EC that everyone should follow the law, she said, "The EC gets its power after the election is declared but there is also a limit to that power."

Stating that she is prepared for any consequence in her fight for people, Banerjee said, "I am ready to go to jail. If you want to kill me, then kill me. I am ready to sacrifice anything for people."

The CM alleged that even Supreme Court's order has been violated. "As per SC's order, Feb 14 was the last date of SIR hearing. Why was then login blocked around 3 pm when the deadline had not yet passed? Around one lakh people suffered because of this," she said.

She also claimed that the exact number of deletions from the voters' list still remains unclear. "Now the Tughlaq-styled commission has created a dashboard. When an ERO is uploading names, an error is shown, which means the name is not listed. They are deliberately going after minorities, the poor, SCs and STs. They have tried to snatch the rights of women in the name of logical discrepancies. Youths are not even getting the chance to defend themselves," she added. The poll panel on Friday also asked chief secretary Chakravorty to comply with its directions dated 05.08.2025 for the registration of FIRs against two electoral registration officers (EROs), two assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs), and one data entry operator over their alleged failure to perform their statutory duty and for violating data security policies. A reminder in this case was last sent to West Bengal on Jan 2, 2026. The EC had instructed the Bengal government to file FIRs against the ERO and AERO of the Baruipur East Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas and the ERO and AERO of the Moyna Assembly constituency in East Midnapore.

The commission pressed its direction dated Jan 25 for the suspension of Basirhat II BDO and assistant electoral registration officer (AERO) Sumitra Pratim Pradhan, who had "unauthorizedly deployed 11 additional AEROs to conduct hearings by issuing a suo-motu order, in contravention of statutory provisions." Compliance was then sought by the EC within 48 hours.