LS polls: Election Commission working to reduce ‘shadow zones’ in Bengal

MP, 20 Dec 2023, Kolkata: The Election Commission is adopting measures to bring down the prevalence of ‘shadow zones’ to bolster the efficiency of the election process in Bengal. Shadow zones are areas that have poor or no mobile and Internet connectivity. 

There are two types of shadow zones — voice shadow zones which impede phone calls, and ‘Internet shadow zones’ which disrupt connectivity. Senior officials of the CEO (Chief Electoral Officer) Bengal office recently held a meeting with the service providers and asked them to take measures to minimise the shadow zones to the best extent possible. 

“We have received some initial figures of shadow zones from the district magistrates and we have asked the service providers to verify them,” a senior official of the TMC CEO’s office said. Sources said the shadow zones lie in three regions, including the forest areas of Junglemahal spread across Purulia, Bankura, West Midnapore, and Jhargram districts. 

It also includes the riverine areas of Sunderbans covering portions of North and South 24-Parganas, and the hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Bengal had 159 polling stations with voice shadow zones and 1,019 encountering internet issues. The current initiative aims to minimize voice shadow booths to almost negligible levels, with only a few hundred potentially facing internet connectivity challenges. 

“Technology has become an integral part of the electoral process with numerous mobile applications essential for presiding officers. The issue of mobile and internet connectivity is a big challenge for the Commission and we are taking all possible measures in this direction,” added the official. 

The Election Commission has decided to implement webcasting in at least 50 per cent of the booths, with a particular emphasis on sensitive areas prone to communication challenges. The Commission will also use GPS-enabled temporary setups with the assistance of telecom giants. 

“We want to ensure robust communication channels, crucial for the seamless relay of voting data from booth officials to the returning officer every two hours on polling day,” the official said. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/ls-polls-election-commission-working-to-reduce-shadow-zones-in-bengal-544933