KOLKATA: The results of the municipal election, involving 108 urban local bodies, will be announced on Wednesday. More than 95 lakh people had exercised their franchise in the election, which took place on February 27. Altogether, 8057 candidates had taken part in the election. There are a total of 2276 seats.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) has already won Dinhata Municipality. So, elections were held in 107 municipalities. Elaborate police arrangements have been made to ensure peaceful counting. Adequate lighting arrangements have been made in and around 107 counting centres.
The electronic voting machines had been sent to the counting centres under heavy police protection from the strong rooms.
The identity cards of the polling personnel will be checked before they are allowed to enter. Only the polling agents of the political parties with identity cards will be allowed to enter the counting centres.
Only the election observers will be allowed to enter the counting centres with cell phones. There will be heavy deployment of police personnel outside the polling stations.
The counting will start at 8 am. The counting will be held between 2 rounds and 18 rounds depending on the number of voters. In addition to general police personnel, RAF and Combat Forces will be deployed to maintain peace. Repolling in two booths (booth number 7 and 4) under wards 25 and 33 in Srirampur and South Dum Dum municipalities respectively was held peacefully on Tuesday.
While 78.89 per cent voters cast their votes in Srirampur Municipality, it was 23.6 per cent in South Dum Dum municipality, according to the State Election Commission. The SEC had ordered repolling in two wards on Monday.
A total of 44,000 police personnel had been deployed for the civic polls, with at least one armed police in every booth. In all, 135 observers, including 10 special senior observers and 108 general observers, kept a close watch on the polling. The East Midnapore district had registered the highest voting percentage of 84.16.
"There were clear cut instructions from the Chief Minister to take all possible measures for smooth conduct of the civic polls and accordingly we had made foolproof security arrangements. Not a single person has sustained grievous injury during the polls and not a single case of hospitalization has taken place. The police has intervened in every single small incident that occured and have taken prompt action," Director General of Police Manoj Malaviya had said.