KOLKATA: Around 60 per cent of the polling stations in the city, which will go to polls on April 21, have been identified as 'vulnerable', a senior officer of Kolkata Police said today.
All the 505 polling stations, of which 288 were 'vulnerable', will be manned by the Central Para-military Force personnel during polling on Thursday.
The officer said one constable of the Kolkata Police will be there to maintain the queue in 1,859 booths of 505 polling stations.
Around 7,000-8,000 Kolkata Police personnel and 61 companies of the Central Force will be present at the seven constituencies of the city where polling will be held in the third phase of election.
The seven seats are Chowringhee, Entally, Beleghata, Jorashanko, Shampukur, Maniktala and Cossipur-Belgachia.
The Kolkata Police also decided to increase the number of lines for its 100 Emergency Dial to the Control Room in order to take more calls during the poll days.
"We have eight ports currently. Now with the polls around we have decided to increase it to 30 to cater to calls in case of any distress," Joint Commissioner of Police (HQ) Supratim Sarkar said today.
A joint wireless control room has also been opened in the city to monitor movement of the central forces.
One Kolkata Police officer will be there with each of the 61 companies of central force to help them get familiarise with the areas, he added.
Out of the 61 companies of Central Force, 10 will stay back in the city after the April 21 pollings.
"While one company will be guarding the strong room at the Netaji Indoor Stadium, the other nine companies will be used for confidence building in the other parts of the city which will go to polls in the other phases," he said.
Kolkata Police as a part of its pre-poll preventive actions have since December seized 146 arms, 329 cartridges, 101 bombs, 5,422 litres of illicit-distilled liquor and worked out on nearly 4,000 cases, the officer said.