Panchayat polls: Bengal may hire forces from other states

Pradip Chatterjee | MP | 6 Apr 2023 : The state government is contemplating hiring police personnel from neighbouring states to conduct the three-tier Panchayat elections which are likely to take place in May. 

There will be a huge requirement of forces to smoothly conduct the Panchayat elections. 

According to sources, the state election commission will require more than 3.5 lakh election personnel to conduct Panchayat polls this year. All the district magistrates (DMs) have already prepared a preliminary list of vote personnel. 

Apart from the state government employees, school teachers and bank employees will be hired for carrying out the election procedures. Training of the voting personnel will be started soon. 

There will be around 63,339 voting centres across the state. If the election process is carried out in a single phase there will be a requirement of 1.26 lakh police personnel only in voting centres if each centre has a deployment of two policemen. 

State election commission will require 50,000 additional armed forces which include the quick response team (QRT), mobile forces for carrying out naka checking a day before the election and also on the day of election. 

However, state government is yet to take the final decision on whether the forces will be brought from other states. There has been a demand from the Opposition to deploy Central forces while conducting the Panchayat elections to ensure free and fair elections. The state government may, however, require permission from the Union Home ministry if the state hires forces from other states. 

The state election commission may publish the final list from each booth. During the last Panchayat polls, there were around 48,650 voting centres across Bengal. Meanwhile, the state election commission has already issued guidelines to the Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad constituencies in 22 (twenty-two) districts for conducting elections smoothly. 

The guidelines given by the Commission shall be adhered to for the formation of polling parties, said a recent order issued by the Commission. The selection and appointment of Presiding Officers and Polling Officers shall be done through a process of three-stage randomisation, the order said. 

The entire process starting from the collection of databases to the issuance of final appointment letters will be done through the Election Manpower Management System (EMMS), the portal-based software developed by the Commission for the purpose. For step by step procedure, the user manual for EMMS is to be followed. A pool of presiding officers and polling officers shall be prepared through EMMS, the order stated further.

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/panchayat-polls-bengal-may-hire-forces-from-other-states-514224?infinitescroll=1