EC to hold meetings with DMs & Disaster management dept

Kolkata: In the wake of an alert of cyclone ‘Remal’, the ‘concerned’ Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday will hold a meeting with the secretary of the Disaster Management department and the District Magistrates (DMs) of all Jangalmahal districts where elections will be held on May 25. Power Minister Aroop Biswas held an emergency meeting on Tuesday.

As the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to be held on May 25 in Tamluk, Kanthi, Jhargram, Ghatal, Midnapore, Purulia, Bankura and Bishnupur Lok Sabha constituencies, the EC may issue necessary directives to the state Disaster Management department what steps ought to be taken in these areas.

It was learnt that Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Aariz Aftab will hold separate meetings with the DMs of the Jangalmahal districts and also with the Disaster Management department’s secretary on Wednesday. The meetings with the DMs may happen virtually. DMs may be given instructions to take adequate measures to ensure that the electors do not face any difficulties in casting their votes in the polling booths.

In the booths situated in rural areas, there may be a chance of waterlogging near the booths in case there is heavy rainfall.

The CEO may also conduct a stock-taking exercise while conducting a meeting with the Disaster Management department.

Meanwhile, the state Power minister Aroop Biswas held a high-level meeting at Vidyut Unnayan Bhavan with the senior power department officials and also CESC officials. The minister has urged the officials to take adequate preventive measures.

The officials have been asked to take immediate steps if power supply is hindered in any places due to cyclone ‘Remal’. Incidentally, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said that a low-pressure area is expected to form over the southwest Bay of Bengal around May 22 and will most likely move northeastwards, forming into a depression over the central parts of the Bay of Bengal by May 24.

It is not however sure if the depression will evolve as a cyclone ‘Remal’.

“A low-pressure system is going to develop in the south Bay of Bengal during 22–23 May. Will it evolve as #CycloneRemal moving to the east coast? Ocean and atmospheric conditions are favourable in south Bay, with 2–3°C warmer sea surface temperatures and a Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) reaching there,” Roxy Mathew Koll, climate scientist at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology wrote on X on Sunday.