Bengal officials have been warned to curb poll violence: CEC
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said on Tuesday that the Election Commission has issued strict instructions to the West Bengal bureaucracy to contain violence and ensure a levelplaying field during the Lok Sabha elections.
Mr. Kumar said adequate personnel of the the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) would be deployed in the State. The CAPF personnel would be jointly deployed by the nodal officer of the State police, the Chief Electoral Officer, and the Central Observer for the State. Information on deployment of forces would be provided to all parties, he added.
Speaking to the media, Mr. Kumar said the bureaucracy in the State had been fully sensitised to make sure that the elections were “free and fair”.
On previous failures to curtail violence during polls, Mr. Kumar said, “Incidents will not be that widespread this time. If violence does happen to spread, then the district administration will take action. If they do not take action then we will make them take action.”
Law enforcement agencies have been directed to monitor interState boundaries and international borders to curb flow of inducements, especially drugs, gold, and counterfeit Indian currency, he added.
“All enforcement agencies will coordinate closely and not operate in silos and will ensure not only violencefree elections but also prevent any incident,” he said.
The CEC said there were 7.58 crore voters — 3.85 crore men and 3.73 crore women — in the State. The number of firsttime voters stood at 15.25 lakh.
The electoral gender ratio in the State stood at an impressive 968 women voters for 1,000 men voters, with 90 Assembly seats having a gender ratio of over 1,000. The full bench of the Election Commission has been in Kolkata for two days and held meetings with political parties and officials of the State government.
Mr. Kumar said the commission had taken steps to prevent spread of fake news. It has launched an integrated mechanism system and a tollfree number to register complaints.