Whistleblowing or indiscipline? AERO’s SIR remarks put EC on alert

Kolakata: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has signalled possible disciplinary action against Mousam Sarkar, the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) of Bagnan Assembly constituency in West Bengal, for publicly raising concerns over alleged logical discrepancies in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

According to an official, Sarkar, who also serves as the Block Disaster Management Officer of Bagnan Block-II, questioned aspects of the SIR process in public. The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, responded on social media platform X, stating that the matter was being viewed seriously and that action could be initiated for violation of service discipline.

The CEO’s office said that if Sarkar had grievances regarding the SIR exercise, he should have raised them with his superior officers or formally approached the District Election Officer through the prescribed procedure. It added that, under such circumstances, an administrative transfer could have been considered. Instead, the office alleged that Sarkar chose to air his concerns publicly, amounting to indiscipline, violation of rules and disrespect towards a constitutional authority.

Also read: Trinamool alleges Amartya Sen summoned for voter list revision, EC calls it a spelling error

In its post, the CEO office stated that Sarkar is an employee of the Election Commission and that appropriate action would be taken against him in accordance with the law.

Responding to the development, Sarkar said he had not yet received any official communication. He added that he would respond appropriately once he received a formal letter. Defending his actions, he said he spoke out in public interest and argued that other officers should also raise concerns to prevent hardship to the public.

Earlier, on January 8, Sarkar had written to the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) of Bagnan, alleging logical discrepancies in the AERO log related to the SIR process and tendering his resignation from the post of AERO. In his letter, he claimed that many discrepancies in name spellings identified during the SIR exercise dated back to 2002 and had subsequently been corrected by voters using Form 8, as per Election Commission rules. He further alleged that similar corrections were made in age-related cases, which he said had led to the current inconsistencies now being flagged during the revision process.