The Election Commission has substantially tightened security arrangements for Thursday's (May 21) repoll in West Bengal’s Falta Assembly constituency, where polling was countermanded last month following allegations of large-scale EVM tampering.
A senior official in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said on Wednesday that eight personnel from the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) — equivalent to a full section — will be deployed at each polling booth for the repoll.
During the original polling on April 29, only four CAPF personnel, or half a section, had been posted at each booth.
“The poll panel does not want to leave any room for irregularities this time. Security arrangements have therefore been significantly strengthened,” an Election Commission official told PTI.
The Falta Assembly constituency has 285 polling booths, with nearly 35 companies of central forces set to be deployed to ensure smooth conduct of voting. Officials said the overall deployment would be almost double that of the earlier polling day.
In addition, 30 quick response teams will remain on standby to tackle any untoward incident.
“The idea is to ensure immediate intervention even in case of minor unrest,” a senior election official said.
The Election Commission has also stepped up surveillance measures for the repoll. Two web cameras will be installed inside every polling booth and one outside, while live webcasting will monitor both the polling process and surrounding areas.
“Monitoring will be conducted from the offices of the District Election Officer (DEO) and the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO),” the official said, adding that drone surveillance is also under consideration.
Three election observers have been assigned to oversee the repoll process.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Police have intensified action ahead of the fresh polling exercise.
“We have arrested several persons, including Falta Panchayat Samiti vice-chairman Saidul Khan,” a senior police officer said.
The political contest in the constituency also took a dramatic turn on Tuesday after Trinamool Congress candidate Jahangir Khan announced that he would not contest the repoll scheduled for Thursday. The TMC described the decision as Khan’s “personal” choice and not the party’s stand.
The BJP has fielded Debangshu Panda in the constituency.
Tension has persisted in Falta since the April 29 polling, when complaints emerged from several booths alleging that perfume and adhesive tapes had been applied to electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Former special observer Subrata Gupta had subsequently visited the constituency and carried out a scrutiny exercise, during which evidence of tampering was reportedly found in at least 60 booths.
Apart from allegations of EVM manipulation, officials also detected attempts to tamper with footage recorded by web cameras installed at several polling stations.
The developments raised serious questions over the role of booth-level officers, presiding officers, polling staff and even election observers.
Following the findings, the Election Commission ordered repolling across all booths in the constituency.
(With inputs from PTI)