If a webcam at any booth remains inactive for even a short period on polling day, repolling may be ordered even if no irregularities have been reported from the booth, the Election Commission has made it clear.

Officials said the decision had been taken because of widespread webcam tampering in Bengal during the 2021 Assembly polls and 2024 general election.

Till now, sources said, repolling used to be ordered in a booth only after the presiding officer or a micro-observer reported anomalies such as booth-capturing, damage to the voting machines, or proxy voting by political party cadres.

“This time, if any of the cameras remains inactive for a certain period, say 30 minutes, at any of the state’s 80,000-odd polling booths, repolling might be ordered. For this, no report from the presiding officer or the micro-observer would be required,” an official said.

Chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar announced the latest decision during a videoconference with district election officers (DEOs), general observers and police observers deployed in Bengal last week.

An official who attended the meeting said nearly 40 per cent of the cameras installed in the booths had failed to function properly during the 2021 and 2024 elections.

It was found that the cameras in many booths had been aimed in such a way that they did not capture what went on inside, he said.

In many booths, the camera lenses had black tape stuck on them; in some others, they were painted over with dark colours.

“As the agency that had installed the cameras for the 2021 and 2024 elections did not report the tampering, its contract was terminated this year. Three other agencies have been appointed to install webcams in all the booths,” a poll panel source said.

“These agencies have installed cameras in other states during previous elections and no complaint was lodged against them.”

So far, a single booth had one webcam, placed inside it but angled away from the voting compartment to maintain the secrecy of the voting.

Sources said the poll panel had decided to have two cameras at each booth this year.

One would be installed inside, covering the entire area barring the voting compartment, and the other placed outside to see whether the queues were being deliberately “jammed” or the voters being intimidated.

Sources said there would be a three-step monitoring of the footage from the webcams: at the levels of the returning officer, DEO and the chief electoral officer’s office.

A control room has been set up at the CEO’s office with the facility to monitor footage from 800 cameras at a time.

Sources said that cameras that can be rotated 360 degrees would be installed in the “sensitive” booths.

“The sensitive booths will be identified within a few days,” a source said.

The poll panel has asked the DEOs to ensure that the webcams in all the booths across the state remain “operational” from the stage of mock polling till the end of the polling process.