West Bengal polls: Counting of votes to start at 77 centres from 8 am

Kolkata, May 3 The counting for the recently concluded two-phase Assembly polls in West Bengal will start from 8 a.m. on Monday in 77 counting centers throughout the state.

However, on Monday, there will be counting for only 293 of 294 Assembly constituencies in the state, since the Election Commission of India (ECI), on Saturday, had announced re-polling for the entire Falta Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district on May 21, the results for which will be declared on May 24.

For the purpose of concentration of the security arrangements during the counting process, the ECI, this time, had reduced the number of counting centres to 77 from 108 in 2021 and 90 in 2016.

Initially, the ECI decided to reduce the number of counting centres, this time to 87. However, finally the number was reduced to 77.

The ECI had ordered that the counting this time will be conducted under blanket security coverage with some additional precautionary measures that was unheard of in the past.

There will be three-layered security coverage in and around the counting centres. In the innermost layer, which is the counting room, the security will be arranged there by the central force personnel only.

In the second layer, which is inside the counting centre premises but outside the counting rooms there the security will be manned by combination of the state and central forces.

In the third and the final layer, which is outside the counting centre, the security will be handled by the personnel of Kolkata Police and West Bengal Police.

The entry to counting centres by authorised electoral officers and staff, political party agents and candidates would require a three-stage verification process.

The identity cards will be verified in three stages.

In the first and second stages, the identity card will be checked manually. In the third stage, QR code verification will be required.

None other than the counting observers and the returning officers will be allowed to enter the counting rooms with their mobile phones.

The ECI had also announced its decision to deploy 165 additional counting observers to assist the existing counting observers for May 4.

The ECI, at the same time, decided to appoint 77 police observers for counting purposes to strengthen security and oversee law and order arrangements around the counting centres.

The additional counting observers and police observers have been deployed to ensure that the counting proceedings are conducted in a secure, peaceful, intimidation-free and transparent environment.

At the same time, to prevent possibilities of post-poll violence which happened after the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls, the ECI has decided to retain 700 companies of CAPF in the state till further orders.

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