The Election Commission has suspended seven officials in West Bengal for alleged serious misconduct, dereliction of duty and misuse of statutory powers during the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, PTI reported on Monday.

The officials had been working as assistant electoral registration officers for the poll panel. They are state government employees deputed by the Election Commission to work on election duties, including the revision of voter lists.

The officials were working in the Samserganj, Farakka, Maynaguri, Suti, Canning Purba and Debra Assembly constituencies, ANI reported.

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The poll panel asked the state Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravarty to initiate disciplinary action against the officials.

The West Bengal government and the Election Commission have been at odds over the special intensive revision of voter lists.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused the poll panel of harassing voters and endangering democratic rights through the voter roll revision process.

The state’s draft electoral rolls were published on December 16. They showed that more than 58 lakh voters were removed after being marked dead, shifted or absent.

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The deletion from the draft roll is provisional and citizens can object to their names being removed from the list. Citizens whose names have been dropped from the list can file their claims and objections.

The Assembly elections in the state are expected to be held in April or May.

Besides West Bengal, the special intensive revision of electoral rolls is underway in 11 other states and Union Territories.

In Bihar, where the revision was completed ahead of the Assembly elections in November, at least 47 lakh voters were excluded from the final electoral roll.

Concerns had been raised after the announcement in Bihar that the exercise could remove eligible voters from the roll