The Election Commission has installed live IP cameras on surveillance team vehicles in West Bengal for real-time monitoring of Assembly polls on April 23 and 29. The main contest for the 294 seats is between the ruling TMC and the BJP.
EC Boosts Surveillance for Polls
Ahead of the West Bengal Assembly polls, the Election Commision has set up car-mounted live IP cameras on vehicles used by Static Surveillance Teams (SST) and Flying Squad Teams (FST) to receive real-time video feeds of polling, which will be conducted in the state in two phases on 23 April and 29 April in the state. The counting of votes will take place on May 4.
Political Landscape
In West Bengal, the Legislative Assembly consists of 294 seats, with the primary contest expected to be between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Enforcement of Model Code of Conduct
The Election Commission of India (ECI) issued directions for the strict implementation of the Model Code of Conduct for the general elections and bye-elections in 6 States. As an effort to ensure compliance, ECI said that a complaint monitoring system has been set up, including a Call Centre number 1950, where grievances can be lodged with the DEO/RO concerned. This system can be used by the electorate and political parties. They can also report MCC violations using the C-Vigil App on ECINET.
"Over 5,173 Flying squads and over have been deployed across the States/UT to ensure that the complaints are attended to within 100 minutes. Besides this, over 5,200 Static Surveillance Teams (SSTs) have also been deployed," the EC press note stated.
Electorate Demographics
West Bengal has a total of 6,45,61,152 electors as per the Election Commission of India, including 6,44,52,609 general electors and 1,08,543 service voters. The state has 5,23,229 young electors aged 18-19 years.
The electoral rolls also list 4,16,089 electors marked as Persons with Disabilities (PwD), 1,152 electors identified as third gender, and 3,78,979 senior citizens aged 85 and above.
Previous Election Context
The last assembly election in the state was held in eight phases in 2021 amid an intense contest between the ruling TMC led by Mamata Banerjee and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Congress and Left Front drew a blank in the last state polls.
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