PM ‘assumption’: Assembly poll dates likely by March 7

Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at a public meeting in Assam’s Silapathar on Monday, hinted that the Election Commission might announce assembly poll dates in the first week of March.

“In 2016, the assembly poll dates were announced on March 4. This year, it is my assumption that the EC will announce the dates by March 7,” Modi said, fuelling speculation over the announcement in poll-bound states, including Bengal. Sources in the state electoral office too held that the EC might announce elections in

Bengal

on or after March 7.

Going by what the PM and the state electoral office sources said, the EC would announce Bengal

polls

after Modi holds a rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in the first week of March. The rally in Kolkata will be the culmination of BJP’s six ‘parivartan yatras’ across the state.

State leaders have told the BJP brass that the yatras would take at least another week to cover their designated routes. “The yatra in north Bengal will end by March 2 or 3,” said state BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu.

The EC, meanwhile, is busy monitoring law and order in Bengal given instances of pre-poll violence in 2019, 2014 and 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

Buoyed by the success of Bihar assembly elections, the EC is developing an IT application for randomization of police personnel — up to the rank of inspector — and poll officials away from their home district and their place of work to buffer local political pressure. Both police and polling parties will be formed randomly through this special application software and the same will be free from human interference.

“There will be two sets of data in the application — one for police and the other for poll officials. The police data will have details on availability of forces, their strength both district- and thana-wise; and working place and residence of individual cops. A similar database is being prepared for polling officials and presiding officers,” an official at the state EC office said.

Currently, Bengal has a cop strength of 1 lakh — 80,000 state police personnel and another 20,000 in Kolkata Police. The state needs 1.5 lakh “election-related officials”.

The EC wants a three-stage filter for both police and polling officials. First, names will be shortlisted from a wider district database of eligible officials. This group will be trained on poll duties. Second, from this trained manpower, actual polling and police parties shall be formed by the random selection software in the presence of general observers. And third, polling stations will also be allocated randomly just before departure.

“There is no way cops and poll officials will know beforehand where they will be posted. This will keep them free from influence. As of now, the process of data feeding is on and after that, there will be a mock trial,” the official added.

Bengal’s chief electoral officer Ariz Aftab has written to the EC, urging it to allow cops to work in their home district or local police stations if they get posted there by the software. The EC is yet to decide on the issue.