ECI unlikely to validate BJP's barb regarding Bengal's booths
Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (ECI) may not fulfill BJP's demand of declaring all the polling booths in Bengal as 'sensitive' as there is no situation in the state disturbing law and order.
As per the latest observation by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in the state, there has been no law and order situation in any part of the state since announcement of the Lok Sabha polls.
The CEO's office has so far identified around 18,461 booths as 'sensitive', spreading over 9 districts in the state. The ECI officials in the state are in the process of identifying the sensitive booths across the state, on the basis of their previous records of violence.
They have been carrying out a detailed examination of the nature of polling booths and are trying to identify the pockets which had witnessed violence in the previous few elections.
According to sources in the CEO's office, around 2,357 booths in South 24-Parganas have been designated as sensitive, while Birbhum has 1,556 sensitive booths. There are around 1,220 sensitive booths in Malda and 1,197 such booths in Murshidabad. In case of Hooghly, Cooch Behar, North Dinajpur and North 24-Parganas, the figures are 1,008, 503, 657 and 981 respectively.
It may be mentioned here that Trinamool Congress supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had raised her voice against BJP's demand of declaring all the booths in Bengal as 'super sensitive'.
Banerjee had also asked how BJP prepared the list of sensitive polling booths and slammed the vindictive politics by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.
She also urged the ECI to act impartially. Banerjee's reaction came soon after a BJP delegation met ECI officials in Delhi on March 13 and apprised them of the party's demands.
Meanwhile, 10 companies of
Central forces arrived at different districts on Friday and started area domination to boost the confidence of the voters.
One company of CRPF jawans started route march along the bordering areas of Birbhum, Bankura and West Burdwan on Friday morning. They are keeping a close watch on the Jharkhand border as well. Forces are being deployed in various parts of South 24-Parganas, North 24-Parganas, Malda, Murshidabad and others.
An ECI team headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sudip Jain is expected to come to the city on Saturday and meet the senior officials of the CEO's office and the senior police officers in the state to supervise the poll-preparedness.
