ECI holds review meeting on poll preparedness in N Bengal

Ahead of the Phase II elections which is scheduled on April 17, the full bench of the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday held a video conference from Delhi convening a review meeting with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in the state Sunil Gupta and other officials involved in the poll process. 

During the meeting the members of the full bench of the ECI had asked the CEO about the poll preparedness in the North Bengal districts which will go to poll next Sunday. They sought a detailed report from various observers who have been deployed at different districts. The police observers deployed in the districts of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Malda, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur and Birbhum have been asked about the law and order situation. How the central forces have been used was also a point of discussion in the meeting. Commission’s full bench during the review meeting also wanted to know how many non-bailable warrants have been executed. 

Deputy Election Commissioner Sandip Saxena who is also in charge of West Bengal held a separate meeting with the district magistrates and the superintendents of the poll bound districts to take a stock of the poll preparedness. It was learnt that during the meeting Saxena had asked the district magistrates who are also the district election officers on how the central forces were used in the sensitive areas. In another development, the ECI has directed the CEO to issue a censure order against TMC Birbhum president Anubrata Mondal for his distasteful remarks against BJP candidate Locket Chatterjee in March. 

Additional Chief Electoral Officer Dibbyendu Sarkar said that 202 candidates from North 24-Parganas and 143 candidates from Howrah have submitted their nominations. 

There are 33 Assembly constituencies in North 24-Parganas and 16 in Howrah which will go to poll on April 25. A total number of 352 nominations have also been filed for the Phase V elections which will take place in Kolkata, Hooghly and South 24-Parganas on April 30, Sarkar said.