Officers-in-charge of police stations have been instructed to ensure that central forces march through their entire jurisdiction, rather than focusing only on select vulnerable areas. Officers must submit daily reports detailing the exact route of the march and areas covered.
Kolkata Police have sent guidelines to OCs of police stations across all 10 divisions. The OCs are required to strictly adhere to them while filing reports to the “election cell” at the Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar. Reports from police stations are to be routed through divisional commissioners before reaching the election cell.
Metro takes a look at the instructions sent to police stations.
Google maps
The instructions specify that reports on central forces’ daily movements — including latitude, longitude, date and time — must be uploaded to Google Maps. This system will allow senior Kolkata Police officers and commanding officers from the central forces to verify whether personnel are being adequately deployed each day.
Police station officers escorting central forces must also click photographs and record videos of the movements to attach to reports. “Area domination exercises by central forces must cover all pockets, not just vulnerable areas, and include visits to polling premises in the jurisdiction of a police station,” said a senior Kolkata Police officer.
If a complete exercise cannot be completed in one day, central forces will spend two days covering the area under a police station’s jurisdiction, the officer said. Reports from the OCs must be stored in specific folders for each division at the Lalbazar election cell.
Area domination
Proposed routes for central force marches must be submitted a day in advance so senior officers and commanding officers are aware of the next day’s schedule. “During area domination exercises, central force personnel may interact with residents. Officers from police stations escorting them can help facilitate these interactions, capturing them in photographs and videos,” a senior officer of Kolkata Police’s north division said.
After the first round of an area domination exercise, forces may revisit areas under a police station for “confidence-building” activities. “This involves interacting with voters and identifying any signs of intimidation. These visits by the central forces often extend to lanes and bylanes,” the officer said.
Crime reporting
In addition to area domination and confidence-building measures, OCs must file detailed reports on all poll-related incidents. These may include complaints about party flags being removed, criminal intimidation during campaigns or the outcomes of naka checks conducted by patrol teams.
“All officers have started following the instructions, and daily reports are being sent to the election cell in Lalbazar. Officers have been asked to have records ready before the EC-appointed police observers arrive,” an officer said.
Six IPS officers from Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi and Punjab have been appointed as police observers to oversee polling in Calcutta. In a detailed list released on Tuesday, the EC selected these officers for six constituencies in Calcutta and its suburbs going to the polls during the second round on April 29.
