Bengal: ECI team to hold meetings with DEOs tomorrow on polling booths in housing complexes

Kolkata, Dec 29 A central team of the Election Commission of India (ECI), headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti, will hold meetings with district magistrates, also designated as District Electoral Officers (DEOs), on Tuesday to discuss the implementation of the Commission's plan to set up polling booths within housing complexes having high-rise towers for the Assembly elections scheduled next year.

Bharti and his team are scheduled to arrive in Kolkata from Delhi on Tuesday morning.

Later in the afternoon, he will hold a meeting with the DEOs of the two Kolkata-adjacent districts of North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas to discuss modalities for implementing the proposal to establish polling booths inside private housing complexes with high-rise towers.

The meeting will be held at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal. The CEO, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, will also be present at the meeting, an official from the CEO’s office confirmed.

Earlier this month, the ECI advised all DEOs to completely ignore suggestions from political parties regarding the selection of private housing complexes with multiple high-rise towers that may be considered suitable for setting up polling booths.

The Commission's advisory to the district magistrates and DEOs in this context came in the wake of divergent views expressed by different political parties over the proposal to establish polling booths within private housing complexes.

Earlier, the Commission had also expressed strong displeasure over not receiving even a single proposal from district magistrates and DEOs identifying private housing complexes with multiple high-rise towers suitable for setting up polling booths.

In the same communication issued earlier this month, the ECI directed that after the publication of the draft electoral roll on December 16, all DEOs should immediately conduct surveys of high-rise buildings, group housing societies, resident welfare association (RWA) colonies, slums and gated communities having at least 250 houses or 500 voters. The survey was to include details of rooms available at the ground-floor level and identify suitable accommodation for polling stations within the premises.

The Commission also instructed the CEO's office to ensure that the entire exercise is completed by December 31.

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