NEW DELHI: Ahead of the counting of votes in West Bengal scheduled for Monday, the Election Commission on Saturday deployed an additional 165 counting observers and 77 police observers in the state.
While the additional counting observers will assist the 294 such observers already deployed per constituency, the additional police observers will strengthen security and oversee law and order arrangements outside the counting centres, the poll body said.
Officials said that while police observers are generally not deployed during vote counting, in this case, they will not be allowed to enter the counting centres, and will manage law and order outside only.
“The additional counting observers and police observers have been deployed to ensure that the counting proceedings are conducted in a secure, peaceful, intimidation-free and transparent environment,” the Election Commission (EC) said.
The EC asserted that it appointed the additional observers in exercise of its constitutional powers under Article 324 of the Constitution and provisions of the Representation of the People Act.
The observers will function under the poll body’s superintendence and control, the EC noted.
The additional counting observers will assist the existing counting observers for 165 Assembly constituencies having more than one counting hall.
The police observers will oversee the security and law and order arrangements around the counting centres assigned to them and ensure that the arrangements follow the EC’s instructions.
No person, except the counting observer and the returning officer, is permitted to carry a mobile phone inside the counting hall, the EC said.
The additional deployment followed after the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court rejected a Trinamool Congress plea against an EC decision to use Central government employees for vote counting, upholding the poll body’s authority to select staff and ensuring that the process proceeds with Central staff on counting day.
The two-phase polling for the 294 Assembly seats in Bengal took place on April 23 and April 29. The results will be declared on May 4.