Kolkata: Sensitivity-mapping will determine the decision of the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the district-wise deployment of police observers for the forthcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal, scheduled to be held later this year.
An insider from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, said the ECI is keeping a few factors in mind regarding the district-wise sensitivity-mapping.
“The district-wise sensitivity-mapping will be under three categories. The first category comprises districts with an International Border with neighbouring Bangladesh. The second category is districts with a history of massive poll-related violence, whether before, during, or after the polls, in the last three elections. The third category will be those districts where the factors in both the first and the second categories are applicable,” said the CEO’s office insider.
Murshidabad, Malda, and Cooch Behar, he added, are the typical examples of districts coming under the third category, as they have borders with Bangladesh as well as past records of massive poll-related violence.
On the other hand, districts like Kolkata-adjacent Howrah are typical examples of the second category, which, though not having International Borders with Bangladesh, have records of severe political violence.
In view of these factors, the ECI is considering increasing the number of central observers under all categories, especially the police observers in these areas, the source said.
In the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, the ECI appointed 170 general observers, 84 expenditure observers, and 37 police observers.
“The ECI’s headquarters in New Delhi had already intimated the CEO’s office that this time there will be a substantial increase in the number of observers in all these three categories, especially in the number of police observers. As hinted by the Commission, the number of police observers to be appointed for West Bengal will be at least 100 or more, which is almost three times the number that was in 2021,” the CEO’s office insider said.
He also explained why the ECI is especially focusing on the three times increase in the number of police observers this time.
“This time, the police observers would be given greater authority, especially as regards determining the movement of Central Armed Police Forces’ personnel. In the previous elections, District Magistrates, who also function as District Electoral Officers, were authorised to determine the movement of CAPF before, during, or after the polls while the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was in force.
“However, this time the Commission has decided that ECI-appointed police observers will determine CAPF movement in the respective districts. At the same time, district-specific composite teams would be formed to assess pocket-wise requirements for CAPF deployment, and the decisions of the police observers in this regard would be final. So keeping this in mind, the Commission had decided to substantially increase the number of police observers this time,” he said.
At the same time, sources in the CEO’s office said district-specific composite teams would be formed to assess pocket-wise requirements for CAPF deployment, and the decisions of the police observers in this regard would be final.
