‘Significant decline in voice, Internet shadow zones in Bengal’

KOLKATA: There has been a significant decline in voice and Internet shadow zones in Bengal with only three polling booths in two districts being earmarked within voice shadow zones, while an additional 19 booths across seven districts found lacking internet connectivity.

According to a senior official in the state Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO ) office, out of the total 80,403 booths in the state, this happens to be the lowest count of polling stations with shadow zones in recent years.

The CEO office recently held a meeting with all telephone service providers and urged them to improve Internet connectivity in these areas. “Webcasting facilities will be made available in all booths to see if these shadow zones can be bridged, otherwise we will have CCTV surveillance in these booths,” an official in the CEO office said.

According to sources in Election Commission, there is no mobile phone connectivity in two booths in Alipurduar and one booth in Darjeeling; whereas five booths in South 24 Parganas, four in Purulia, three in both

Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri, two in Alipurduar, and one each in Jhargram and Kalimpong lack internet facilities.

Voice shadow zones hinder phone calls while internet shadow zones jeopardise connectivity. Booth officials are required to transmit voting data to the returning officer every two hours on polling day and so proper internet connectivity is necessary.

During the last Lok Sabha elections, there were 159 and 1,019 polling stations with voice and internet shadow zones respectively in Bengal. The number had however dropped to below 100 polling stations during the state Assembly polls in 2021.

The South 24 Parganas district administration had taken the help of ham radio for bridging the connectivity gap in the shadow zones of Sunderbans during the 2021 elections.