The Election Commission of India (EC) is set to introduce a series of measures for the by-election to the Kaliganj Assembly segment scheduled on June 19 in a bid to ensure that no complaint comes up over the election process.

The initiatives include the installation of CCTV cameras in all the booths, getting live feed from outside the booths where voters queue up, installing CCTV cameras on the vehicles of sector offices and deploying quick response teams.

In addition, the EC has decided to send a list of booths and areas where central forces must be deployed.

Many in the poll panel said that these initiatives could be termed as a warm-up to the four Assembly polls in Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in 2026. Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are non-BJP-ruled states.

“The EC is very serious about the bypolls in five Assembly seats across the country, including Kaliganj, on June 19. The steps are being initiated only because the poll panel does not want anybody to question the outcome of the polls. If the steps yield results, these would be adopted in next year’s Assembly polls,” said a poll panel official.

Five bypolls will be held on June 19. Kaliganj apart, the others will be in Gujarat (two seats) and one each in Kerala and Punjab.

“All these measures are already written in the rule book. But many of them were not implemented for many areas (in the previous elections),” the poll panel official added.

Sources said that the poll panel has decided to bring all 270-odd booths — 100 per cent — under CCTV cover for the Kaliganj bypoll. The move is considered to be significant as about 50 per cent booths were under CCTV cover in the previous elections.

“So far, the poll commission had to depend on the reports of micro-observers or the presiding officers to get to know if there was an anomaly in a booth. As these presiding officers or micro-observers were state government employees, they often did not send anomaly reports,” said a source, adding that the EC would prepare a special team to monitor live feed from all booths.

Installing CCTV cameras outside the booth is also a key decision. So far, one camera used to be installed inside the booth. Therefore, the EC could not get to know what was happening outside the booth where voters queued up.

“Complaints used to come up that political party cadres used to threaten voters outside the booths. They often forced people to leave the polling premises if they felt that a particular voter or a group of voters would not cast their votes in their favour. But now, live feed from the queues would make such intimidation tactics tough for political parties,” said another official.

The EC would also put CCTV cameras on the vehicles of the sector offices and quick response teams. This will help the poll panel get to know if these teams reached a spot late after receiving complaints.

Sources said that the EC would use new technology to identify booths where anomalies are noticed from the live feed. The video footage would be red-flagged and the EC would ask the district election officer to send a report on the anomaly. If the report is unsatisfactory, re-polling could be ordered in the booth concerned.

Not only these, the EC has decided to send a list of booths and areas of the Assembly segments where by-elections will be held on June 19 to the police superintendents concerned, asking them to ensure that central forces are deployed in those areas and booths.

Also, central forces were not deployed in the past in many sensitive areas, said another source.

“This time, no such mistake would be made. The poll panel would send a list of booths to the SP where he would be liable to send central force jawans,” said the source.

The selection of sensitive booths would be prepared by the EC based on reports from several quarters, including political parties.

“Earlier, the list of sensitive booths used to be prepared mainly by district authorities.... The EC used to make minor changes. But this time, the EC itself would take the initiative to prepare the list” said a source.

Contestants

The BJP has nominated Ashish Ghosh as its contestant for the Kaliganj seat. Trinamool has already nominated Alifa Ahmed, the daughter of the late MLA Nasiruddin Ahmed, whose death in February this year necessitated the bypoll. The Left is supporting the Congress candidate Kabil Uddin Shaikh, making the Kaliganj bypoll a three-cornered contest.