The Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to deploy its own independent mechanism to identify housing complexes with multiple high-rise towers for setting up polling booths ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
The move comes after district authorities repeatedly failed to meet deadlines for the exercise.
Sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, said the decision was taken following a review meeting held on 30 December, amid the failure of district magistrates (DMs), who also function as District Electoral Officers (DEOs), to submit lists of housing complexes with 300 voters or more.
The meeting, chaired by ECI Deputy Election Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti on Tuesday, was held to push forward the implementation of the plan.
The meeting was attended by Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal, district magistrates and district electoral officers, along with senior officials from North 24-Parganas and South 24-Parganas, at the CEO’s office.
Despite 31 December being fixed as the final deadline by the commission, several districts failed to furnish consolidated lists even by then.
“The DEOs missed two consecutive deadlines. With no credible progress on the ground, the commission has decided to activate its own independent mechanism to identify suitable housing complexes for polling booths. The detailed plan will be communicated shortly,” a senior official in the CEO’s office told said on condition of anonymity.
The ECI has also kept contingency plans ready.
“If owners’ associations or resident welfare bodies do not permit polling booths within housing complexes, the commission may set up temporary polling stations at nearby locations. Such temporary booths could cater to voters from more than one adjacent housing complex,” the official said.
As per the commission’s current assessment, polling booths within housing complexes are likely to be concentrated in Kolkata and its adjoining districts of North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas and Howrah, besides industrial townships like Asansol and Durgapur in West Burdwan district and Siliguri in Darjeeling district.
Earlier this month, the ECI had expressed strong displeasure over not receiving a single concrete proposal from district authorities identifying high-rise housing complexes suitable for polling booths.
In a formal communication, the commission directed DEOs to ignore suggestions from political parties on selecting private housing complexes, following sharp differences among parties over the proposal.
The commission had also instructed DEOs to conduct surveys immediately after the publication of the draft electoral roll, on 16 December, covering high-rise buildings, group housing societies, RWA colonies, slums, and gated communities with at least 250 houses or 500 voters.
The survey was to assess the availability of ground-floor rooms suitable for polling stations, with the entire exercise to be completed by 31 December.
Meanwhile, a Trinamul Congress delegation that met Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar raised strong reservations regarding setting up booths in private high rises and residential group housing societies.
However, the CEC made it clear that the commission would not backtrack from its decision to set up polling booths within housing complexes, underlining the ECI’s resolve to push through the plan despite administrative delays and political objections.