Serial and fabricated complaints: EC hits out at police cases against CEC, Bengal CEO
In a series of posts on X, the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer's office said it had come to know through press reports that two complaints had been lodged against the senior election officials in connection with the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls for 2026.
New Delhi: The Election Commission on Wednesday strongly rejected police complaints filed against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal, describing the allegations as "premeditated, unsubstantiated and intimidatory".
In a series of posts on X, the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer's office said it had come to know through press reports that two complaints had been lodged against the senior election officials in connection with the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls for 2026.
"The allegations contained therein appear to be premeditated, unsubstantiated and a crude attempt to browbeat the officers tasked with discharging statutory duties in connection with SIR 2026," the post said.
'A pattern of serial and fabricated complaints'
The election authority further said such actions were aimed at threatening the election machinery and derailing a statutory process. "Such intimidatory tactics designed to threaten the election machinery into submission and derail the process are undoubtedly destined to fail," it added.
The poll body asserted that it would probe what it termed a pattern of "serial and fabricated complaints". "No stone will be left unturned to unearth the conspiracy behind these serial and fabricated complaints. Rule of law and truth shall prevail," the statement said, adding that the election machinery in the state remained committed to functioning "with grit and rectitude solely and wholly in public interest".
The Election Commission's response came after families of two elderly voters in West Bengal lodged police complaints holding the Chief Election Commissioner and the state's chief electoral officer responsible for the deaths of the voters, who had received hearing notices linked to the SIR process.
Name appeared in 2002 and not in 2025
In one case, the son of an 82-year-old voter from Purulia, Durjan Majhi, alleged that his father's name appeared on the physical 2002 SIR rolls but was missing from the list uploaded on the Election Commission's website, resulting in the issuance of a hearing notice. The voter allegedly died by suicide hours before his scheduled hearing.
The Election Commission, however, said in a notification issued on December 27 that around 1.3 lakh voters whose names appear on the physical 2002 SIR rolls but are missing from the online database due to a technical glitch will not be required to appear for hearings.