Bengal Assembly polls: ECI’s full bench to visit state on March 1

Kolkata: The full bench of the Election Commission of India will be on a two-day visit to West Bengal on March 1, that is the day after the new date for the publication of the final voters’ list on February 28, which will mark the end of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state.

The dates for the two-day tour of ECI’s full bench to West Bengal were finalised at a meeting of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, with the Commission’s full bench at the ECI’s headquarters in New Delhi earlier in the day.

“After arriving in Kolkata, the members of the ECI’s full bench will be holding meetings with the CEO as well as his subordinate officers, like the additional CEOs, Joint CEOs, deputy CEOs, and the district electoral officers (DEOs) to take stock of the situation in the post-SIR scenario in the state,” an insider from the CEO’s office said.

Soon after that, the ECI will announce the polling dates for the crucial Assembly elections in the state scheduled later this year. “Definitely, the polling dates will be announced in the first week of March, as indicated by the Commission to the CEO at the meeting today in New Delhi,” the CEO’s office insider said.

In the meeting, there were discussions on the probable number of phases for the Assembly poll elections in West Bengal this year.

It is learnt that the CEO strongly emphasised a single-phase poll and said that his office is ready for that, provided there will be adequate deployment of central armed police forces (CAPF) personnel for that purpose.

The CEO’s office insider said that although the Commission had not given any final commitment on the number of phases, it assured that under no circumstance would there be more than three phases.

The last time a single-phase election was conducted in West Bengal was in the 2001 Assembly elections. After that, the phases had ranged between six and eight, be it the Lok Sabha polls or the Assembly polls.

The CEO’s office insider pointed out that the eventuality of a single-phase poll in West Bengal in 2026 will have both its advantages and disadvantages.

“The advantage is that political parties will not be able to mobilise their supporters from one pocket to another and thus address the traditional complaint of outsider mobilisation on the polling day or the day before that, intimidating the voters,” the CEO’s office insider pointed out.

However, that single-phase would require a larger deployment of CAPF, especially on the polling day. “If the Commission can ensure that arrangement, the idea of a single-phase is quite feasible,” the CEO’s office insider explained.