Poll security a concern: Debasis Sen

On the eve of the first phase polls in 14 parliamentary constituencies (PC) of West Bengal, chief electoral officer expressed concern over the security conditions in these violent-prone constituencies.

Speaking at press meet organised by the Press Club, Kolkata, Debasis Sen, chief electoral officer, West Bengal said, “The first phase polls in the state will be tough. I cannot say I am not tensed. I am anxious about the security situation in these 14 PCs where election will be held tomorrow, eight in the North Bengal and six in South Bengal since a lot of the areas are severely Maoist infested and violent prone. Required central paramilitary force has already reached alongwith the polling staff in the booths and will take their position early tomorrow morning.”

The election booths in these 14 PCs will be open between 6 am to 3 pm in the evening because of security reasons unlike other areas where booths are opened till five in the evening, he mentioned.

The constituencies going to polls tomorrow are Coochbehar (SC), Alipurduar (ST), Jalpaiguri (SC), Darjeeling, Raiganj, Balurghat, Malda (North) Malda (South), Ghatala, Jhargram (ST), Medinipur, Purulia, Bankura and Bishnupur (SC).

In a bid to ensure security almost 220 companies of central forces have been deployed.The method of deployment in these 14 PC will differ from booth to booth. The central forces would be deployed in static, critical mobile and mobile positions, he added.

West Bengal will have the highest deployment of 220 companies of central forces in each of the three-phases -- tomorrow, May 7 and May 13.

Three helicopters will also be deployed during the election.

Each PC will have 3 central observers as a thumb rule and roughly 300-350 micro observers this time.

One PC consists of seven assembly constituencies on an average coming to roughly 1,400-1,500 booths in each PC, sen said.

The Election Commission will face a difficult task in holding a peaceful poll in the Jhargram (ST) seat in West Midnapore district, which includes Lalgarh where a tribal agitation and resistance against 'police atrocities' was launched since November last year.

Around 49 polling booths have been aranged for over 35,000 to 40,000 voters in four villages in Lalgarh, whose residents opposed the entry of the police.

The booths have been moved five kilometers away with the Election officials arranging for buses to ferry voters.

A total of 1.69 crore electorate will be eligible to vote for 134 candidates, including nine women.

Sen further pointed out that compared to 2004 Lok Sabha elections lots of measures have been stepped up in terms of using video cam or digital camera to increase surveillance in the booths, providing 66,000 braille ballot papers for the blind, helping to get everyone registered, using sms and blogs to give information about assembly constituency, booths, etc In a bid to modernise and upgrade the whole election procedure, further efforts were on to provide digital maps providing booth direction at every street corner in the third phase polls which will cover Kolkata and other adjoining areas. This year, the election commission in the state had been able to achieve a 97.36 percent of voter id card distribution also, he mentioned.