The Election Commission has asked district authorities to keep a strong vigil on areas with a high number of deletions of names in the last 72 hours before the first-phase polling on April 23.
The poll panel apprehends that politically sponsored goons might incite people to launch protests to upset law and order ahead of the poll day.
“Special attention should be given in the areas/polling stations where deletion of voters during the SIR process is high as miscreants may incite people, whose names are not in final electoral roll, to protest, which may lead to law and order situation before and during the poll,” reads an order sent to the district magistrates.
Sources said that the poll panel issued the order keeping in mind Malda’s Mothabari incident, where several judicial officers, including women, were held hostage for hours by angry villagers on April 1. Moreover, several BDO offices were ransacked across the state during voter hearings.
“Precautionary measures need to be taken as a section of goons were trying to create trouble during the entire SIR exercise. We cannot rule out the possibility that they won’t try to incite people ahead of the polls,” said an EC official.
The poll panel also issued a series of directives to district authorities to ensure that voters are not intimidated.
The EC informed the district authorities that it had inputs that “troublemongers” on bikes might try to intimidate voters in the last 48 hours — known as the “silence period” — before polling day.
The EC has asked the OCs and ICs to keep a strict vigil in their areas, stop any activity to intimidate voters and take strict action against the guilty.
In a bid to counter the menace of party cadres riding motorbikes to intimidate voters during the silence period, the ICs and OCs should arrange two-wheelers for the police and central forces so that they can also enter narrow lanes of relatively remote areas and undertake confidence-building measures. For this, the police stations can hire motorbikes at the rate fixed by the state transport department.
As canvassing is strictly prohibited within a 100-metre radius of any booth, the EC has asked district officials to ensure that no one except voters enters the 100-metre circle.
The EC has directed that people whose names have been deleted by the SIR process not be allowed to enter the polling booth. BLOs, who will be present at the voter assistance booth near the polling booth, will check the authenticity of every voter. Only when the BLOs clear voters can they enter the booth premises.
CAPF jawans will check voters after the BLO’s go-ahead to see whether they are carrying the documents specified by the EC for casting their votes.