Report: Bengal ranks 2nd in applications by Pol parties
Kolkata: West Bengal ranks second among the states when it comes to requests submitted by political parties through the Suvidha portal for booking rally grounds, opening temporary party offices and operating video publicity vans. Bengal has received approximately 13890 requests till Monday, when reports last came in.
As per details provided by the poll panel, maximum requests amounting to 23,239 were received from Tamil Nadu (till Sunday). Madhya Pradesh is third with 10,636 requests. In the case of Bengal, the Commission received the highest number of requests (3446) from Cooch Behar that goes to polls on April 19. It received 1258 and 1202 requests from Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri, respectively. They will go to polls on the same day.
The districts that will go for polls in the second phase — South Dinajpur, North Dinajpur and Darjeeling- sent requests for 567, 399 and 160 programmes. Kolkata South and Kolkata North that go for polls on June 1 sent 177 and 52 requests. As per EC, upto April 8, since the election announcement and Model Code of Conduct (MCC) becoming operational, the Suvidha platform received 73,379 permission requests from political parties and candidates, of which 44,626 requests (60 per cent ) were approved with the first in-first out principle ensuring a level playing field for parties and candidates. Nearly 11,200 requests were rejected which is 15 per cent of the total requests received, and 10,819 applications cancelled as they were invalid or duplicate. Rest of the applications are under process.
Minimum requests received from Chandigarh (17), Lakshadweep (18) and Manipur (20). The Suvidha portal is a technological solution developed by ECI to ensure a level playing-field for candidates of all parties. It caters to permissions for organising rallies, opening temporary party offices, door-to-door canvassing, video vans, helicopters, obtaining vehicle permits, distributing pamphlets. Offline submission options are available to ensure inclusivity and equal opportunity for all stakeholders.
