Kolkata, May 1 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday directed the general observers for all the 294 Assembly constituencies in West Bengal to be present at the respective counting centres and the counting halls before the counting of votes at 8 a.m. on May 4 and be present there till the counting is completed and the winning certificates are handed over to the elected candidates.

An insider from the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said that the Commission had also decided to make the general observers accountable for any disturbance or irregularities in the counting process.

“The general observers have been asked to give regular updates about the proceedings of the counting process to the central control room at the CEO’s office in Kolkata and the district-level control rooms at the officers of the District Magistrates, also known as the district electoral officers, concerned,” the CEO’s office insider added.

Meanwhile, the ECI had already directed several steps to prevent violence or misappropriation on and after the counting day.

“So far it is decided that 200 companies of central armed police forces (CAPFs) personnel will be deployed for security at the innermost circles of the counting stations, which are the counting rooms. Apart from that there will be two other layers of security, one within the counting centres and others outside the counting centres,” the CEO’s office insider said.

This time, the number of counting centres will be much less at 77, in order to ensure security concentration there.

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.​.

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.

–IANS

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