EC likely to appoint 500 observes for West Bengal assembly polls

By Joymala Bagchi
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 4 : The Election Commission of India (ECI) is likely to appoint around 500 observers in West Bengal for strict monitoring of the forthcoming Assembly polls.
"Discussions are underway for the appointment of around 500 observers in poll-bound West Bengal, details are yet to come," an ECI official told ANI.
According to ECI official, Ajay V Nayek, a 1984 batch retired IAS officer is appointed as the special general observer. Vivek Dubey, a 1981 batch officer from Andhra Pradesh cadre and Mrinal Kanti Das, a retired 1977 batch IPS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre have been appointed as special police observers. B Murli Kumar, a 1983 batch retired IRS officer has been appointed as special expenditure observer.
These special observers will come to West Bengal on Friday to review and take stock of the situation. They will hold a series of meetings with police officers and expenditure observers deployed in the fields.
"The vehicles of all sector officers in West Bengal will be laced with GPS-based applications. These vehicles can be tracked by observers and the office of District Electoral Officer (DEO) and Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) for immediate intervention in case any law and order problem arises," an official from West Bengal CEO told ANI.
According to ECI, around 7,32,94,980 voters electors will cast their vote in 1,01,916 polling booths in West Bengal. In the 2016 Assembly polls, the booth numbers were 77,413.
West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.
Notably, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into force immediately after the announcement of the election dates. The commission has made adequate arrangements to ensure effective implementation of MCC guideline.