All arrangement have been made for the first phase of election in West Bengal and Assam. In West Bengal 18 constituencies spread over Paschim Medinipur, Purulia and Bankura districts will go to polls in this phase.
State Additional CEO said this evening that 107 polling parties in Purulia’s four seats have been put in temporary shelters tonight as safety precaution. They will be escorted to polling booths early in the morning tomorrow.
Election Commission’s 1950 helpline for all will start working from the wee hours on Monday. 676 micro-observers have been deputed to keep a tab on voting, he said.
As most parts of about 13 of the 18 constituencies are in Left Wing Extremist (LWE) affected areas, the Commission has put up very tight security measures. Out of 350 companies of the Central security forces deployed in the 3 districts, 118 have been deputed in the core area of the Jangalmahal.
Beginning today two helicopters started making sorties to providing aerial security cover and an air ambulance has been kept ready as a standby measure. Quick Response Security teams have also been stationed in vulnerable pockets.
Poll officials have started to reach the 4940 polling stations that have been set-up for over 40 lakh, 9 thousand voters, including over 19 lakh male and more than 19.53 lakh females, will decide the fate of 133 candidates.
11 of them are women. 39 candidates are in the fray in Paschim Medinipur, 72 In Purulia and 22 in Bankura.
Polling on Monday will be held under the Phase 1A of voting for 6 seats in Paschim Medinipur, 9 in Purulia and 3 in Bankura.
Only in booths of Manbazar, Kashipur, Para and Raghunathpur constituencies the polling will be held for two hours extra, from 7 am to 6 pm. In the other 13 constituencies the voting will start at 7am and conclude at 4 pm.
Elections for the 294 seat State Assembly are being conducted in six phases from 4th April to 5th May.
The first phase of assembly elections in Assam will also be held tomorrow in 65 constituencies spread over eastern, northern and southern parts of the state. Polling will begin at 7 AM and go on till 5 PM.
A total of 539 candidates are in the fray, including 43 women. Out of the 65 constituencies, ten have been reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates and three have been reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates.
More than 95 lakh voters will decide the fate of prominent candidates like Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and BJP Chief Ministerial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal. Congress has fielded a total of 65 candidates, BJP has fielded 52, and AIUDF has fielded 27. Polling for this phase will be conducted in over 12000 polling booths.\
Around 433 companies of Central Armed Police Forces and 102 companies of State Armed Police Force have been deployed to ensure smooth polling tomorrow. A total of 539 polling stations will have webcasting facility and 454 have been installed with static video cameras. Besides, 78 polling stations will be manned by women polling officers.