As West Bengal gears up for the first phase of the two-phase Assembly polls on April 23 across 16 districts, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is closely monitoring all constituencies in seven districts due to security concerns. These districts include Malda, Murshidabad, North Dinajpur, Cooch Behar, Birbhum, West Midnapore, and West Burdwan.
Cooch Behar, Malda, and North Dinajpur are situated in North Bengal, while the remaining four districts are in South Bengal. These districts have been singled out based on research on booth sensitivity and historical data of poll-related violence over the past 15 years, starting from 2011.
The central forces and Quick Response Teams (QRTs) will be most concentrated in these seven districts on polling day, according to sources from the Chief Electoral Officer’s office in West Bengal. Majority of the polling booths in these districts have been classified as critical or hypersensitive booths to ensure a peaceful voting environment.
To guarantee violence-free polls, the ECI has deployed 2,193 QRTs across the 152 Assembly constituencies participating in the first phase. Murshidabad, known for election-related violence, will witness the highest deployment of 219 QRTs, comprising solely Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel.
Stringent verification measures will be in place at every booth, with two-stage verification processes for voters before entering the main polling area. The first stage will be conducted by CAPF personnel at the booth, followed by verification by the respective Booth-Level Officer (BLO).
The Commission has issued a stern warning to lower-ranking police officers against any negligence of duty during polling days. It emphasized that any dereliction of duty will lead to severe departmental actions affecting their Annual Confidential Report (ACR) and post-retirement benefits.
