Overview
- The Election Commission directed West Bengal’s DEOs to file FIRs against two EROs, two AEROs and a data entry operator in Baruipur East and Moyna for alleged credential sharing and fictitious additions to the rolls.
- The officials are accused of giving unauthorized ERO Net access by sharing OTPs, with cases to be booked under Section 32 of the Representation of People Act along with relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the IT Act, and compliance reports sought.
- Following TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee’s claim that living voters were marked as deceased, the CEO asked the South 24-Parganas DEO to conduct an inquiry and submit a report.
- After scrutiny of draft rolls, logical discrepancies reportedly dropped from about 16.3 million to around 9.45 million, and the revised electoral roll is scheduled for publication on February 14.
- To strengthen inclusion during the SIR, the EC approved automatic enrolment of Birhor, Toto and Sabar PVTGs without documents, set up 160 temporary decentralized hearing centers across 12 districts, and eased documentation for sex workers, transgender persons and monks.