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“They apprised the commissioner about the security arrangements for the panchayat elections,” said S N Roychowdhury, Secretary, State Election Commission.
The government has not been able to arrange enough forces to cover all the booths in the districts going to the polls in the first phase on May 11. In the first phase, 80 per cent of the polling premises will witness deployment of armed personnel.
The remaining booths, which could not be provided with intensive security are those that have a relatively peaceful track record and are not marred by the political controversies.
The first phase will see deployment of nine companies of BSF, five companies of the Kerela police, seven companies of the Tripura police and two companies of the Orissa police. A total force of 28,923 constables, home guards and NVF has been deployed for the poll duty, which includes forces from the above states. The figure, however, does not include officers of the rank of ASI and above.
In the second phase, the state administration has assured of covering 85 per cent booths with armed security while it hopes to deploy forces in all booths in the third phase of the elections.
“We have reviewed the situation and are satisfied with the arrangements. Though ideally, we would have liked to have all booths covered by forces,” said Roychowdhury.
The EC has encouraged suggestions from the Forum of artistes, cultural activists and intellectuals who will be camping at Nandigram from May 10.
“They can forward their suggestions to the administration. The administration will consider the proposals,” said Roychowdhury.
Teachers refuse poll duty, asked to show cause
Three lecturers of the Dakkhin Barasat Dhruva Chand Haldar College had been slapped with a showcause notice, as they refused to appear for the election duty. They were called on by the district administration. One of those who refused was 59 years old and had only seven months of service left before retirement.
The notice is in complete violation of the Supreme Court ruling of December 6, 2007 which said that the government school teachers cannot be asked to skip classes and undertake non-academic activities like election duties, census work or polio campaigns. The apex court had ruled that the services of government teachers could be utilised for such purposes only during school holidays and non-teaching hours. The State Election Commission (EC), however, denied the incident. “We have called on teachers of state-run government schools for duty since the summer vacations have already begun. No teacher from government colleges was called except in a few cases, when no school teacher was available,” said SN Roychowdhury, secretary, state election commission. In a related incident, a teacher of Mitra Institution, a government-funded school had filed a petition in the High Court on May 7 against the EC for its decision to call schoolteachers for non-academic purposes like election duty. The HC had ordered the EC to file an affidavit within four weeks to explain under which regulation it has decided to deploy teachers on election duty.
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