NEW DELHI: A day after the BJP requested the Election Commission to declare all constituencies in West Bengal as super-sensitive in view of heightened possibility of violence, the commission on Thursday decided to send a team to review poll preparedness in the state. The team will also review the poll preparedness in Tripura, Assam and Manipur.
According to EC officials, Deputy Election Commissioner Sudeep Jain will visit West Bengal, which will see polling in seven phases beginning April 11. Mamata had hit out at the BJP’s plea to the EC to declare the state as super sensitive and called it an insult to the people of the state.
EC holds observers meet
The EC on Thursday held the first briefing for observers to be deployed in the states that are going to polls. Over 1,800 officials drawn from the IAS, IPS, IRS and other central services attended the briefing.
Reminding the observers of their crucial role, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said the officers need to be earnest. They had no choice but to ensure no mistakes are committed, he said. Arora said in the last State polls, it took a few instances of mistakes in following the laid-down protocol to render all the good work in the background.