The Election Commission of India (ECI) will use its own method to locate housing complexes with multiple towers for setting up polling booths in the upcoming state Assembly elections. This decision comes after District Magistrates (DMs), who also serve as District Electoral Officers (DEOs), failed to identify complexes with 300 voters or more for this purpose. Despite missing two deadlines to provide the lists, the DEOs, as per sources from the Chief Electoral Officer’s office in West Bengal, the ECI will soon reveal detailed plans for this process.
In cases where owners’ associations do not allow polling booths within the complexes, the ECI may establish temporary booths nearby to accommodate voters. These temporary booths would serve residents of multiple adjacent complexes, as per insider sources. The ECI’s current strategy involves setting up such polling booths primarily in Kolkata, neighboring townships in North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah districts, industrial hubs of Asansol and Durgapur in West Burdwan district, and Siliguri in Darjeeling district.
Trinamool Congress MPs recently met with the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, to express concerns about the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state. During the meeting, the CEC affirmed the ECI’s commitment to establishing polling booths within housing complexes, dismissing any possibility of reversing this decision.
