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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | ‘Rare’ third visit by EC in less than a month by Meghdeep Bhattacharyya

‘Rare’ third visit by EC in less than a month by Meghdeep Bhattacharyya

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published Published on Jan 30, 2011   modified Modified on Jan 30, 2011

Deputy election commissioner Vinod Zutshi is expected to visit Bengal on Wednesday, the third such trip in less than a month by the poll panel, which described the move as “rare, if not unprecedented”.

During his three-day trip, Zutshi will meet the district authorities to “inspect the progress” in implementing the recommendations of an observer team that toured the state earlier this month.

Zutshi is also expected to meet state government officials to finalise the number of phases in which the Assembly elections will be conducted and the quantum of central forces to be deployed on poll duty. He will meet chief secretary Samar Ghosh and the magistrates and police chiefs of several districts.

“I will stay for at least three days. I will meet top government officials and also hold meetings with the district authorities. I will discuss a few key issues regarding the conduct of the Assembly elections and also assess the poll-preparedness of the administration,” Zutshi told The Telegraph today.

A poll panel team of five IPS officers led by Bihar’s chief electoral officer Sudhir Kumar Rakesh had toured the state between January 16 and 21. The commission’s full bench had also visited Calcutta on January 8.

This Wednesday, Zutshi will meet the district magistrates and police chiefs of North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Hooghly and Howrah. The next day, he will meet senior Calcutta police officers. On Friday, he will meet the top brass of the north Bengal districts. All the meetings are expected to be held in Calcutta.

Zutshi will ask the district authorities to furnish lists of sensitive zones and “probable intimidators”. Rakesh’s team had asked the authorities to prepare such lists. “Zutshi will also quiz the district authorities on the action taken on three key law-and-order parameters Rakesh’s team had mentioned — execution of non-bailable warrants, expediting preventive arrests and seizure of illegal arms,” said an official at Nirvachan Sadan, the poll panel’s headquarters in Delhi.

Commission officials in Delhi and Calcutta said the repeated visits in less than a month suggested the “importance the poll panel attaches to the Bengal polls this year”.

“A third visit in less than a month and that too before the announcement of the poll schedule is rare, if not unprecedented,” a Nirvachan Sadan official said.

A commission official in Calcutta said the poll panel had not conducted more than a single such visit in the same timeframe in the four other poll-bound states — Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and Assam. He said yet another team could tour Bengal soon, this time to visit areas where “the CPM is the alleged victim of political clashes”.

Zutshi will carry the report on the law-and-order situation submitted by Rakesh on January 22 when he meets chief secretary Ghosh. The two are likely to discuss the quantum of the central forces to be deployed for the polls, which will have a bearing on the number of phases in which the elections will be conducted.

The state government has requested for 800 companies of central forces, around 200 more than the number deployed for the 2006 Assembly polls. “The commission is more or less convinced that at least 800 companies will be needed. Zutshi will try to finalise the deployment plan during his stay. The availability of forces and the timing of their deployment will be factored in by Zutshi’s bosses while deciding on the number of polling phases,” a panel official said.

The Telegraph, 31 January, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110131/jsp/bengal/story_13514542.jsp


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