State Election Comm to hold virtual meeting with all DMs

Kolkata: The State Election Commission is set to hold a virtual meeting with all the District Magistrates (DMs) on April 18 to take stock of the preparedness and also to give necessary instructions ahead of the forthcoming Panchayat elections.

All the DMs have been directed to attend the meeting. The Commission will announce the final list of voting centres by April 28. The Commission is yet to issue election notification. It is assumed that it would take around 21-35 days to hold the election after the publication of notification. Political experts believe that the Panchayat elections may be conducted in June.

The State Election Commission (SEC) has already directed the DMs to ensure that there should be at least one state or Central government employee in a team of voting personnel. The state government is yet to take the final decision whether the forces will be brought from other states. There has been a demand from the opposition to deploy Central forces while conducting the Panchayat elections in order to ensure free and fair polls. The state government may, however, require permission from the Union Home Ministry if the state hires forces from other states. The State Election Commission may publish the final list from each booth. During the last Panchayat elections, there were around 48,650 voting centres across the state.

According to sources, the State Election Commission will require more than 3.5 lakh election personnel to conduct the Panchayat elections this year.

All the District Magistrates (DMs) have already prepared a preliminary list of voting personnel. Apart from the state government employees, school teachers, bank employees and Central government employees will be hired for carrying out the election procedures. Training of the voting personnel will be started soon. There will be around 63,339 voting centres across the state.

Meanwhile, the State Election Commission has already issued guidelines to the Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad constituencies in 22 (twenty-two) districts of the state for conducting elections smoothly. The guidelines given by the Commission shall be adhered to for formation of polling parties, said a recent order issued by the Commission. The selection and appointment of Presiding Officers and Polling Officers shall be done through a process of three-stage randomisation, the order mentioned.