A team from the Election Commission of India, led by Deputy Election Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti, will meet with district magistrates in Kolkata to plan the setup of polling booths within high-rise housing complexes for the upcoming Assembly elections. Bharti and his team are set to arrive in Kolkata from Delhi for the discussions.
The team will specifically engage with District Electoral Officers of North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas to address the logistics of establishing polling booths within private housing complexes with high-rise towers. The meeting is scheduled to take place at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal, with CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal also in attendance.
Recently, the Election Commission instructed all District Electoral Officers to disregard suggestions from political parties regarding the selection of private housing complexes suitable for polling booths. This directive followed conflicting opinions expressed by various political parties on the matter.
In response to the lack of proposals identifying suitable private housing complexes for polling booths, the Election Commission urged District Electoral Officers to conduct surveys of high-rise buildings, group housing societies, and other residential areas with a significant number of houses or voters. The surveys were to include assessments of available ground-floor space for polling stations and to be completed by December 31, as directed by the Commission.
