State government has not only turned down request for Central forces but has sanctioned only 50 per cent of the…
Left Front leaders and activists protest against violance during the Panchayat poll nomination filling programme in front of the State Election Commission in Kolkata on Monday. (Photo: Biswajit Ghoshal)
State government has not only turned down request for Central forces but has sanctioned only 50 per cent of the total requisition for observers.
The State Election Commission had requested 342 observers for the three phase of Panchayat polls but the state government has approved only 171 observers.
According to the SEC norms, there should be one observer per block apart from one district level observer. The block observers are WBCS officers and district observers belong to the IAS cadre.
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The state government has instead approved one observer for every two blocks. “We are not in a position to spare so many officers as administrative work will be hampered. Work for the ongoing programmes and schemes will be affected in the absence of officers. Moreover, the district level officers would be there to oversee the overall poll process,” said an official.
State government has identified trouble prone areas and adequate force has been deployed to avoid unrest in the areas, additional director general of police (law and order) Anuj Sharma said.
Mr Sharma said that adequate force was deployed at Mahammad Bazaar, Usthi, Nagerhati, Raghunathgang and Kaliagung and police has intensified security measures in the areas.
Stray incidents of violence were reported from number of polling booths out of fifty thousands polling booths in the state, Mr Sharma said. Police has taken action and filed cases against the miscreants who fomented violence, he said.
State government has instructed all SPs to intensify police vigilance and keep close watch so that no outsiders can instigate violence, he said.
Seven persons were arrested in connection with the poll related violence at Usthi and five persons were arrested from Baruipur in South 24 Parganas, Mr Sharma said. State government will deploy armed force in all polling booths during forthcoming Panchayat poll, he said.
The SEC has further asked for 56,000 armed police personnel and three lakh polling personnel. There are 58,469 polling stations in 20 districts where polling would be held on 1, 3 and 5 April.
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