All polling booths in West Bengal to be manned by central forces

KOLKATA: All polling booths in West Bengal would be manned by central forces as there would be elaborate security arrangement around the centres for a peaceful polling in the first leg of the Assembly election beginning tomorrow.

Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Kumar Gupta said the 54 constituencies in six north Bengal districts going to polls, have an electorate of over 97.42 lakh. There are 364 candidates in fray. The six districts are: Coochbehar, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling and Malda.

Escorted by security forces, nearly 50,000 polling personnel have reached 12,131 polling centres, Gupta said.

Gupta said central and other security forces have staged flag marches for area domination. Inter-state and international borders have been sealed.

He said 16 polling booths are located in the remote hilly terrains of Darjeeling Kalimpong districts where polling personnel had been dispatched on Saturday.

Polling would begin from 7 AM and end at 5 PM, Gupta said.

The CEO said all EVMs to be used for polling have undergone a final check before and snags were detected in only three of them.

About 2,500 EVMs (20 per cent of the total requirement in the first phase) have been kept in reserve for emergency requirement, he said.

Arrangement has been made for post-poll scrutiny on the basis of reports and diaries of presiding officers, observers, micro-observers and zonal magistrates in case of doubtful polling pattern or any irregularity, he said.

Polling centres situated in vulnerable areas will have increased security strength as there would be a quick response team, sector office, mobile unit and zonal magistrates ready.

The entire polling process would be monitored with the help of digital camera, video camera and webcasting.