NEW DELHI: The Election Commission suspended seven officials in West Bengal and directed the chief secretary to initiate immediate disciplinary proceedings against them for alleged “serious misconduct, dereliction of duty and misuse of statutory powers in connection with SIR.”In a series of letters sent on Sunday night to West Bengal chief secretary Nandini Chakraborty, the Commission ordered the immediate suspension of seven Assistant Electoral Registration Officers across multiple districts. It asked the cadre controlling authority to begin disciplinary proceedings “without any delay and apprise the Commission in this regard”.Of the seven officials, three are posted in Murshidabad district, two in South 24 Parganas, and one each in West Medinipur and Jalpaiguri.Those suspended include Dr Sefaur Rahaman, Assistant Director of the Agriculture Department and AERO for the 56-Samserganj Assembly Constituency in Murshidabad; Nitish Das, Revenue Officer, Farakka and AERO for the 55-Farakka Assembly Constituency; and Sk Murshid Alam, ADA, Suti Block and AERO for the 57-Suti Assembly Constituency.Also suspended are Dalia Ray Choudhury, Women Development Officer, Maynaguri Development Block and AERO for the 16-Maynaguri Assembly Constituency; Satyajit Das, Joint BDO, and Joydeep Kundu, FEO, both AEROs of the 139-Canning Purbo Assembly Constituency in South 24 Parganas; and Debashis Biswas, Joint BDO and AERO for the 229-Debra Assembly Constituency in West Medinipur.The Commission has sought a prompt update from the state government on the action taken against the officers.