EC Takes Stern Measures to Ensure Free and Fair Elections in West Bengal

Kolkata: If a voter is being intimidated outside the polling booth or even in his/her home or locality, the EC will order a re-poll in that particular booth after conducting an inquiry.This is one of the many stern measures which the commission is going to take to ensure Bengal's assembly elections are free, fair, and peaceful.Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal said, "This time intimidation of voters outside booths will come under booth-capturing. The intimidation of voters of a particular booth can happen outside the polling station. Upon receiving a complaint and subsequent inquiry, the EC may order a re-poll in that booth."Israel Iran War‘A tremendous mistake’: Trump says he'll cut spending on Nato over Iran war snubStrait Of Hormuz Standoff: Trump pauses Iran strikes; Tehran tightens oil leverageThe EC has made unprecedented security arrangements to ensure violence-free polls, he added.The installation of webcams in all booths and its three-layer real-time monitoring on a 24x7 basis is one of such measures. The booths will be fitted with 360-degree rotating cameras — one inside and one outside — and the "critical" polling stations will have three cameras, the commission said."This time, webcasting will be made from all polling stations in Bengal, starting from mock polling. Three layers of control rooms will be set up at the offices of the returning officer, the district election officer and the chief electoral officer, respectively, with 72 screens and 12-16 sub-screens coming under one screen. Micro observers will be deployed in the control rooms to monitor and note any incident," special observer Subrata Gupta said.The control rooms will send information about an incident to the QRT and sector office, and they will reach the spot in 15-20 minutes.