OFFICIALS FEAR DAMAGE TO POLLING CENTRES .... Storm casts cloud on voting

PRANESH SARKAR, TT, 04 May 2019, Calcutta: The district authorities of Hooghly, Howrah and North 24 Parganas, where elections are scheduled for Monday, are spending anxious moments as they apprehend that cyclone Fani may cast a shadow on last minute poll preparations.

"We apprehend the cyclone could damage the dispersal cum reception centres badly. As polling officials will collect EVMs and other materials, including VVPAT, from the DCRC on Sunday, we will have little time to repair the structures if Fani hits on Saturday morning," said an official in Hooghly.

On Monday, polls will be held in seven parliamentary constituencies -- Hooghly, Sreerampore, Arambagh, Howrah, Uluberia, Barrackpore and Bongaon -- spread across the three districts. Usually, each subdivision of a district houses two-three DCRCs.

DCRCs are usually set up on the premises of any college building or a government office. Temporary structures are erected to distribute election-related materials to the polling officials. The polling officials submit the EVMs and the VVPATs in the DCRC after voting is over.

"The temporary structures were set up on Friday... We apprehend that these structures will be damaged badly because the cyclone is set to hit this part of the state with a speed of around 100km an hour, which is strong enough to damage temporary structures," said an official in Howrah.

An official explained that Saturday, two days ahead of polls (known as P--2 in official language), is extremely important in terms of poll preparations.

"Usually, we keep everything ready including EVMs, VVPATs and other materials for distribution. If the DCRCs are damaged on Saturday, it would be tough for us to distribute materials to the polling officials on Sunday," said the official..