At least 1,000 voters were deleted from the electoral rolls in an Assembly constituency in West Bengal due to an alleged security breach that began in September 2023, the Hindustan Times reported.

The breach took place in the electoral roll management system, where the login credentials of four assistant electoral registration officers were allegedly stolen, the newspaper quoted unidentified officials of the poll panel as saying.

West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal told the Hindustan Times that he has been informed by the South 24 Parganas district magistrate that the breach may have been started in September 2023.

The breach came to light during an enquiry conducted by the electoral registration officers, he added.

“In this case, the assistant system manager’s involvement has been confirmed during an inquiry, and it has been alleged that a large number of deletions have taken place,” the newspaper quoted Agarwal as saying. “However, the extent of deletions or additions or corrections will be known only after a detailed investigation.”

An order issued by Agarwal’s office on Thursday alleged that the assistant system manager, identified as government employee Arun Gorain, stole the login credentials of Assistant Electoral Registration Officer Swapan Kumar Halder, the Hindustan Times reported.

Halder is also the joint block development officer of Kakdwip, a subdivision in the South 24 Parganas district.

“Gorain committed fraud and cheating by inserting his mobile number unauthorisedly in the login credential of AERO [Assistant Electoral Registration Officer]...and disposed of forms 6 [new voter addition], 7 [voter deletion] and 8 [changes in the electoral roll] by from the login [ID] of AERO by using OTP received in his mobile number,” the Hindustan Times quoted the order as having stated.

The poll panel suspended Gorain for alleged gross misconduct after receiving the complaint from the district administration, The Indian Express reported.

An unidentified election official told the Hindustan Times that Gorain’s motive was not yet clear.

“Either it is money or he is in hands-in-glove with some political parties,” the officials were quoted as saying. “This will be only known once the issue will be taken up by the ECI [Election Commission].”

They added that the role of the assistant electoral registration officers and the electoral registration officers also needed to be investigated to ascertain how the alleged security breach went unnoticed for more than a year.