EC raps DEOs for failing to identify polling booths in high-rise buildings
Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has expressed dissatisfaction with District Electoral Officers (DEOs) in Bengal for failing to identify polling booths in high-rise buildings across the state, and has asked them to complete the task after the draft electoral roll is published on December 16.
In a letter to West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal, EC under-secretary Shakti Sharma wrote: “No proposal of polling stations (in the high-rise buildings) has been received from your office so far. The Commission has taken a very serious view of the failure on the part of DEOs in performance of their statutory duty… The DEOs are liable for any lack of sufficiency of polling stations for electors in the above specified residential colonies.”
The EC has directed the CEO to ensure DEOs immediately survey high-rises, group housing societies, Resident Welfare Association (RWA) colonies, slums and gated societies with at least 250 houses or 500 voters. The survey must include details of available ground-floor rooms to identify possible polling stations within these premises. Additional booths in slum clusters must also be assessed. Proposals for such polling stations are to be sent by the CEO’s office to the Commission by December 31.
The Commission had earlier issued guidelines for the same exercise. However, according to sources, it has so far received proposals for only two such polling stations from the state CEO’s office.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar objecting to setting up booths inside private residential complexes. “This proposal is deeply problematic. Polling stations have always been—and must remain—located in government or semi-government institutions, preferably within a 2 km radius, to ensure accessibility and neutrality… Private buildings are typically avoided… they compromise fairness, violate established norms, and create discriminatory distinctions between privileged residents and the general public — the haves and have-nots,” she wrote.
The move to set up polling stations in high-rise premises is part of a rationalisation exercise, following the Commission’s decision that no booth should have more than 1,200 electors.
A senior ECI official said urban voters, particularly those living in multistoried buildings, are often reluctant to step outside their premises to vote, with turnout averaging around 50 per cent. “In some metro cities like Delhi, creation of booths inside high-rise premises has seen voting rise by 10–15 per cent,” the official said.
