KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's announcement claiming that the seven Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) who had been suspended by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on charges of dereliction of duty will be utilised in state administrative duties other than electoral assignments is being view by the poll panel as the partial and negligible implementation of that suspension.
Sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, explained that besides the suspension of the seven AEROs, the Commission had also directed the West Bengal government to initiate departmental proceedings against these seven electoral officers.
"Now the question of the commission is how a departmental inquiry would be effectively carried out by the state government when the higher administrative chair in the state is interpreting the suspension as just shifting them from electoral assignment to other administrative assignments. So the Commission feels that the suspension of the seven AEROs has not been implemented in the true spirit of it at least what had been evident from the statements of the Chief Minister on Tuesday, " said sources in the CEO's office.