Handling hoax calls during the election will not be a problem for the city police in this year?s Assembly polls.

For the first time in the history of West Bengal elections, the city police have launched a high-tech arrangement, named Election Management System (EMS), with the help of the latest software developed by officers of the computer cell at the Lalbazar police headquarters.

Experts have prepared a databank mentioning the number of each polling booth and the name of the police station under which it falls. Besides, the cellphone numbers of police officers who will be in charge of the booths will also be in the databank.

?As a result, after receiving a complaint of booth-jamming or capturing, officers will promptly locate the position of the booth with the help of the computerised databank and trace out the name and contact number of the officer-in-charge of it. After contacting the officer, we will get to know whether the complaint is false or genuine by a click of the mouse,? claimed Kuldiep Singh, joint commissioner of police (administration).

?And if the allegations prove true, there will be a fast system promptly to communicate with senior officers,? he added.

The bitter experience during elections when police receive hoax calls of booth-jamming and booth capture led them to introduce the system.

?Manpower, as well as time, was wasted because of the hoax calls. But this year, we will get to know what is actually happening within seconds,? Singh said.

The computerised databank will also have information on the exact locations of the cluster mobile vans and the vehicles of Radio Flying Squad (RFS) and Heavy Radio Flying Squad (HRFS) which will be posted in certain areas.

Elaborating on the advantages, an officer said: ?We have learned from our experience that nearly 90 per cent of the complaints of booth-jamming and capturing are false. If we do receive calls, we won?t have to scurry out needlessly.?