The Election Commission team will meet various district officials to gauge the on-ground situation ahead of the next year’s Assembly polls in West Bengal.
(Photo: IANS TWITTER)
A team of Election Commission (EC) led by deputy election commissioner Sudeep Jain have arrived in Kolkata on Wednesday for a two-day tour of West Bengal.
The team will meet various district officials – 14 district magistrates and SPs – to gauge the on-ground situation ahead of the next year’s Assembly polls in the state.
“An EC team has come from Delhi. The team would be taking stock of the poll preparedness and holding meetings with bureaucrats and police officials. They are also likely to meet representatives of political parties in the state,” a senior officer of the Election Commission said.
Advertisement
Reportedly, the central team of Election Commission will meet the DMs and SPs of two Burdwan and two Midnapore districts on Wednesday before sitting with the officials of Maldah, Siliguri and Jalpaiguri on Thursday.
“The DMs have been asked to map the sensitive and high-sensitive booths and identify those who were responsible for triggering violence in previous elections. They have also been asked to mention the number of pending non-bailable cases and seizure of arms and ammunition in the report,” said an official of the commission.
As the election will happen amid a pandemic, the EC team will also meet the West Bengal’s health secretary and home secretary to know about their preparedness.
The central agency has already started the process to check all the polling across the state to ensure the availability of certain facilities toilets, drinking water and ramps on the D-Day. West Bengal currently has around 79,000 polling booths.
“There will be an increase of booths up to 25 per cent because of the pandemic and hence, the polling machinery will have to redesigned,” said an official.
Meanwhile, the visit comes days after a delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) met chief election commissioner Sunil Arora, demanding ealry deployment of central forces in West Bengal to curb down the incidents of political violence and reducing their influence on the fate of election.
Advertisement
