Central Election Commission Takes Stock Of Situation In West Bengal

Kolkata: The full bench of the Central Election Commission (CEC), headed by chief election commissioner Sunil Arora, arrived in the West Bengal capital on Wednesday.

The CEC members held a meeting with the state election commission and took stock of the situation in the state.

According to state election commision sources, a review meeting was held with divisional commissioners, district election commissioners, zonal and range IGs, SPs and CPs on key issues related to conduct of Assembly elections, in three-four months’ time.

On January 22, the CEC officials will meet Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay, Home Secretary HK Dwivedi, Director General of Police Virendra and other senior officials.

Besides the law and order situation, the central commission will look at other aspects of the elections as well.

A week ago, Deputy Election Commissioner Sudeep Jain had visited Kolkata and held talks with district officials of West Bengal and also reviewed preparedness for Assembly polls.

Significantly, he had stated that the CEC won’t tolerate any violence during the polls, which are likely to be held in seven or eight phases.

West Bengal has a history of political violence, ahead of elections and also during polling.