EC announces poll timings

Additional Chief Electoral officer Dibyendu Sarkar on Saturday announced the timing of the elections. In the 5 constituencies like Purulia, Malbazar, Kashipur, Para, Raghunathpur polls would take place from 7 am to 6 pm while in the rest 13 Assembly constituencies the polls will take place from 9 am to 4 pm. All the 18 Assembly constituencies under Bankura, West Midnapore and Purulia will go to poll on April 4. While in the second part of the Phase I election scheduled on April 11, elections will be held from 7 am to 6 pm in some parts of Bankura, West Midnapore and Burdwan. In 6 North Bengal districts that is Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri. Alipurduar, Malda, North Dinajpur and South Dinajpur, the elections will take place from 7 am to 6 pm on April 17, while in Birbhum which will go to the polls on the same day the elections will be held from 7 am to 4 pm, as the Commission has announced on Saturday. Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena on Saturday held a meeting with the Chief Electoral Officers (CEO) in the two states of West Bengal and Assam and also with the District Magistrates through a video conference to take a stock of the poll preparation. It was learnt that Saxena had asked the CEOs and Districts magistrates to ensure that the Booth level officers (BLO) must distribute the photo voter slips among the voters in all the Assembly constituencies 5 days before the polls. He also asked to open a window in the Commission’s website where the people can register their complaints directly. The EC on Saturday said that it was not satisfied with the clarifications given by Rezzak Mollah regarding his derogatory remarks during a campaign.