EC to hold meeting on poll preparedness for second phase

State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Aariz Aftab along with senior officials of his office will take a stock of the poll preparedness of the three Parliamentary constituencies (PC) — Raiganj, Balurghat and Darjeeling — which will go to polls.

MP, 22 Apr 2024, Kolkata: The Election Commission (EC) will hold a meeting on Monday with the district election officers (DEOs) of three districts — South Dinajpur, North Dinajpur and Darjeeling — which are going for polls on April 26 during the second phase. 

State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Aariz Aftab along with senior officials of his office will take a stock of the poll preparedness of the three Parliamentary constituencies (PC) — Raiganj, Balurghat and Darjeeling — which will go to polls. 

Two special observers and nodal officers of the state police are also likely to be present in Monday’s meeting. 

The total number of critical polling stations identified by the poll panel during this second phase of elections stand at 1,134 of which the largest number 418 is at Raiganj. Darjeeling and Balurghat have 408 and 308 critical polling stations. 

The total number of polling stations during this phase are 5,298 with 1,999 in Darjeeling, 1,730 in Raiganj and 1,569 in Balurghat. 

The Raiganj Parliamentary constituency comes under North Dinajpur. In the previous elections, Chopra and Islampur areas witnessed sporadic violence. Hence, the Commission has given special emphasis on security arrangements in North Dinajpur. 

The Election Commission has decided to deploy 272 companies of Central Forces for conducting the second phase of elections in these three PCs. 

There will be 184 companies for North and South Dinajpur while Darjeeling will have 88- 51 for Darjeeling, 21 for Siliguri Commissionerate (under Darjeeling PC) and 16 for Kalimpong (under Darjeeling PC). 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/ec-to-hold-meeting-on-poll-preparedness-for-second-phase-560988