Kamal Ghorui
KOLKATA: Election Commission has designated 837 out of the 1,835 booths under the Kolkata North parliamentary constituency as ‘super sensitive’, citing concerns about possible trouble-mongering. On hundreds of these booths, 150 or more names were deleted from the electoral rolls in the SIR exercise. “The EC apprehends residents left out of the voter list might take to the streets to vent their anger against the deletions,” Smita Pandey, district election officer (DEO) for Kolkata North, said on Monday. “The poll body has identified 837 out of the 1,835 booths under the parliamentary constituency as ‘super sensitive’. Out of seven assembly constituencies under Kolkata North, Shyampukur has the maximum number of such super-sensitive booths (80),” she said. According to Pandey, besides deletions, “trouble-mongering, law violation and booths in densely populated locations” are also factors considered before taking the decision to award the ‘super sensitive’ tag to the booths. An EC official conceded that the number of ‘super sensitive’ booths was quite high, around 45.6% of the total. EC has also declared 264 polling premises out of the 583 across seven assembly constituencies as ‘super sensitive’. Pandey said EC is planning to use drones in the densely populated lanes of the northern parts of the city “to ensure free and fair elections”. Kolkata police commissioner Ajay Nand, who attended a presser held by DEO of Kolkata North, said cops and paramilitary personnel have started route marches as a confidence-building measure. Preventive arrests were also being carried out, and unaccounted-for cash was being seized, he said. Randhir Kumar, DEO of Kolkata South, said out of 1,093 polling stations in four assembly constituencies under the parliamentary seat, more than 400 were identified as ‘critical’ or ‘vulnerable’. Kumar said enforcement agencies had seized unaccounted-for cash and items, valued at Rs 8.9 crore so far, including Rs 80 lakh recovered earlier in the day. Also, 32 arms and 83 rounds of ammunition were seized. Around 30 companies of CAPF have been deployed in the city to ensure a free and fair poll, Kumar added.
