KOLKATA: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Tuesday assured that the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal will be conducted in a free, fair and violence-free manner.
The election dates and the number of phases will be announced in Delhi.
“Our only priority is to hold elections in the state that are free, fair and peaceful, without violence or fear. No violence will be tolerated. There will be mandatory, absolute non-partisan conduct by every polling personnel throughout the entire election process,” the CEC told reporters during a press conference in Kolkata’s New Town area.
“We have directed each officer, including district magistrates and superintendents of police, to enforce the rule of law without fear or favour. They must act with complete impartiality, and this is mandatory for them,” Kumar said.
The CEC assured stern action, including departmental proceedings, if any officer is found negligent or showing partiality while performing duties related to conducting elections without violence or fear.
“Not a single genuine voter will be deleted from the electoral rolls. Every eligible voter will be able to cast their vote. The final list after the post-SIR exercise was published on February 28, but a large number of cases are still awaiting decisions by judicial officers as per the directive of the Supreme Court,” the CEC said.
According to him, democracy runs very deep in West Bengal. Voting percentages in the state have remained very high, and electors and the public at large respect the Constitution and believe in peaceful and participatory elections.
Highlighting the scale of the electoral exercise, he said West Bengal has around 80,000 polling stations, of which about 61,000 are located in rural areas. Kumar also announced that the Election Commission would implement 100 per cent webcasting in all polling stations across the state.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has also banned the use of mobile phones by voters inside polling booths. Voters will have to keep their mobile phones outside the booth before entering to cast their votes.
Any candidate contesting the polls can request a recheck of EVMs within seven days after the counting. Home voting facilities will also be available for voters aged 85 and above. Bengal has around 3.78 lakh voters in this age group.
The full bench of the Election Commission — comprising the CEC and Election Commissioners SS Sandhu and Vivek Joshi — addressed the media after holding a series of meetings on poll preparations with political parties and senior officials, including state Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty, the Home Secretary, the Director General of Police (DGP), commissioners of police from different commissionerates, officials from the RBI and the excise department, and Booth Level Officers (BLOs).
The Commission was on a two-day visit to the state to review the situation related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.
The full bench also held separate meetings with major political parties on Monday at a private hotel in New Town to hear their concerns and suggestions regarding the conduct of elections in the 294 Assembly constituencies of West Bengal.
The ruling Trinamool Congress and the CPI(M) expressed concerns over what they described as “unbearable” harassment faced by common citizens during the Special Intensive Revision hearings. They also raised issues about more than 60 lakh voters being placed “under adjudication” status, urging the Commission not to conduct elections without finalising proper voter lists with genuine electors.
The main opposition BJP remained silent on the SIR issue but demanded that the elections be conducted in a peaceful, violence-free environment.
Almost all political parties, including the Congress, demanded that the Election Commission hold the elections in one or two phases. The 2021 Assembly elections in West Bengal were conducted in eight phases, while the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the state were held in seven phases. However, the Trinamool Congress did not clearly state its position on the number of phases.