LS polls preparation: Full bench of ECI to visit state in August
Kolkata: The full bench of the Election Commission of India (ECI) is likely to come to the state at the end of August to take stock of the preparation that is being taken place ahead of Lok Sabha elections next year.
Prior to the visit of the full bench, a team of the ECI will visit the state under the leadership of senior deputy election commissioner Nitesh Vyas to take stock about the law and order situation in the state.
The Chief Electoral Officer Aariz Aftab in the state will hold a meeting with all the DMs on July 22.
According to sources, the first level checking of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) will be performed in the beginning of August. The CEO is going to Siliguri where he will hold meetings with the officials of various North Bengal districts to review the voter list related information as well. Aftab will gradually hold meetings with the administrative officials of South Bengal districts and also in the Western districts.
Voter list verification works have started from Tuesday. The CEO may conduct a review meeting to review the preparedness ahead of the visit of the ECI full bench. Earlier this year, the CEO office in the state had published the final photo electoral roll of Bengal. The number of total electors on the final publication stands at 7,52,08,377.
The number has increased from what remained at 7,42,88,233 on the draft publication. The number of male electors as per the final publication remained at 3,82,36,507 whereas, in the case of female voters, the figure stood at 3,69,70,071. The number of third-gender electors was registered at 1,799.
A total additional 17,81,775 electors have been made in the final list while 8,63,753 names have been deleted as some of them expired and also due to repetition. Around 2.20 per cent of the total voters belong to the age bracket 18-19. All the voters have been issued EPIC cards.
The total number of service electors stood at 1,14,797. The final publication of the electoral roll was published in respect of all 294 Assembly constituencies of the state.
