Kolkata: A sharp exchange has unfolded on social media between Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and Electoral Roll Observer C S Murugan over allegations concerning the functioning of micro-observers during electoral roll revisions.

The row traces back to February 18, when Moitra, in a post on X, accused the official of exceeding his authority.
 

"Please control your Roll Observer C Murugan IAS 2007 Dy Chairperson Tea Board, who is issuing incorrect directions on secret WhatsApp groups to micro observers in violation of Supreme Court orders," she wrote, sharing an image referencing a film character and wrote the caption 'Quick Gun Murugan'.

In what appeared to be a rebuttal, Murugan posted a message on X on February 26, though without directly naming Moitra.

"I don't have as many guns as depicted in the picture. However, I was trained to handle different types of guns and legally and effectively used them during my four and a half years of training in police service in Tamil Nadu," he stated in a late counter post on social media handle.

Moitra has not issued any response so far to Murugan’s latest remarks.

The controversy comes amid earlier allegations by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who claimed Murugan had been sending instructions via WhatsApp to micro-observers to remove voters’ names from the rolls. Banerjee had shared what he described as screenshots of such communications on his X account.

He alleged that Election Commission officials were deploying micro-observers beyond their designated responsibilities to aid in the deletion of voter names, purportedly contravening directions of the Supreme Court of India.

"Even more disturbing are credible reports of Special Roll Observer, C Murugan, issuing instructions regarding the acceptability of birth certificates directly to micro observers in a WhatsApp group, to inflate deletion numbers," he had said.

"Need I remind the ECI of the Supreme Court's categorical directive that the role of micro-observers must remain strictly assistive? Why, then, is statutory procedure being bypassed, and under whose instructions?" he had said in his earlier post.

Rejecting Banerjee’s allegations, Murugan had earlier told reporters, "No directive has been issued to anybody through WhatsApp messages. Only clarifications were given on some directives of the ECI."

PTI