The Election Commission has identified 8.43 per cent of the booths in the first phase and 8.87 per cent of the booths in the second phase of the Bengal Assembly polls as super-sensitive after central forces, general observers and police observers found them to be trouble-prone.

Identifying super-sensitive booths in consultation with the observers and central forces is new for the EC. District authorities had identified sensitive or super-sensitive booths until now.

“This year, the EC has identified 3,745 of 44,378 booths in the first phase and 3,639 of 41,001 polling stations in the second phase as super-sensitive. Special arrangements would be made to ensure free and fair elections at the super-sensitive booths. The process of identifying the booths was changed to some extent as the poll panel did not rely on the inputs from the districts alone,” said a senior poll panel official.

Sources said that a few parameters, like history of violence and malpractice, such as proxy voting or booth capture in the previous elections and above 75 per cent votes in favour of any candidate, were used earlier to mark a booth sensitive. But this year, along with these inputs, the impression of the observers and the central forces was incorporated when identifying the super-sensitive booths.

“The general observers visited almost every booth in their Assembly constituency and spoke with common people over the past few weeks. The police observers also visited every police station in the constituencies where they were posted. Their inputs were considered valuable when identifying the super-sensitive booths. This is why the number of critical booths increased this year compared to previous elections,” said a source.

Sources on the poll panel said that four to five per cent booths used to be identified as critical in Bengal in the previous elections.

“But complaints of electoral malpractice used to come up from many more booths. For example, CCTV cameras failed to function in over 30 per cent of the booths in the last Lok Sabha polls, raising doubts about whether free and fair elections were held. This is why the EC is much more serious about dealing with the problems this time,” said another official.

The EC has decided to install an additional camera in every super-sensitive booth to ensure that polling is held properly.

“In other booths, two cameras would be installed, but in the case of super-sensitive booths, three cameras would be installed. Two cameras would be installed inside the booths so that live streaming is never interrupted and the third camera would be erected outside to monitor the queues and premises outside the booths,” said an EC source.

The commission officials also said that stringent action would be taken against anyone attempting proxy voting this time.

“It was found that no proper action was taken against those caught entering booths for proxy voting. But this time, if anyone enters the booth with such an intention, he or she will be arrested, and a case will be initiated against these people. This is why CCTV footage of all the booths will be preserved for one year this time,” said a source.