Digvijay meets CEC, buys time for face-saver

In his 30-minute meeting with Lyngdoh, Singh assured that he had already asked his department of personnel to take action against the ‘‘erring’’ officials and frame chargesheets.

At the same time, Singh sought to defend the officials by saying that they were his ‘‘best collectors’’ and that the discrepancies in the rolls were due to ‘‘printing mistakes.’’ He also stressed that a proper inquiry be initiated into the matter before passing an order for action against the officials.

However, it is learnt, that Lyngdoh refrained from giving any assurances. Singh, who had put in a request to meet Lyngdoh on Saturday, was given a patient hearing at 3.00 pm after the Commission agreed that there was nothing wrong in meeting the MP CM. The EC seemed adamant that Digvijay should take action against the officials.

Under the terms of settlement between the Commission and the Union Government, ‘‘the disciplinary function of the EC over officers, staff and police deputed to perform election duties shall extend to suspending any officer for insubordination or dereliction of duty.’’

Coming out of the meeting, Singh said that action against officials would be taken only if the EC filed a chargesheet against them. Earlier in the day, the CM had stated that he would comply with the EC’s directives and take action against the ‘‘erring’’ officials.

‘‘How can we suspend them without a chargesheet? We shall follow the Government of India service rules, as they are Central government officers and we have appealed the Chief Electoral Officer to frame the chargesheet,’’ Singh said.

The EC and Singh’s State government have been on a collision course on the issue of suspending six senior administrative-cum-poll officials and taking disciplinary action against 10 others for ‘‘dereliction’’ of duty in revision of electoral rolls.