Even as there were reports of poll-related violence from different parts of the city on the eve of elections to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), State Election Commissioner S. R. Upadhyay urged voters on Friday to exercise their franchise without any fear or influence.
In the KMC polls scheduled on Saturday, about 37.53 lakh voters would decide the fate of 1,075 candidates.
“In order to ensure peaceful polls, adequate security arrangements have been made by the Kolkata Police,” Mr. Upadhyay told journalists here on Friday.
In the 144 wards of the KMC, there are 1,516 polling premises comprising 4,704 booths. “Among these the numbers of sensitive polling stations are 2,647 and there are 535 sensitive polling premises,” said Mr. Upadhyay.
The Kolkata Police would deploy 2,800 Sub-Inspectors, 4,099 Assistant Sub-Inspectors and 21,299 armed constables. Apart from these 3,000 home guards would also be deployed.
As only three companies Central forces would be available for the polls, there would be no booth level deployment of them. The Central forces would be part of the mobile teams. The WBSEC had also decided to deploy a drone for surveillance in a particular area during the polls. However, the area of deployment is yet to be decided.
“Apart from web cameras being installed inside polling booths, in every borough (comprising seven to 10 wards) a vehicle mounted with a web cameras would also be deployed,” said Mr. Upadhyay.
Twelve political parties are in the fray in the KMC polls. Among them the ruling Trinamool Congress had fielded 144 candidates, the CPI-M had fielded 105 candidates and the BJP and the Congress had fielded 142 and 143 candidates respectively.
The TMC, which has been running the civic body for the past five years, is likely to have an advantage as the Opposition has failed to make a strong pitch for change. While the ruling party’s campaign was based on providing facilities and green and clean Kolkata, the Opposition targeted TMC with allegations of threats and intimidation of their candidates and supporters.
While Mamata Banerjee led the campaign for the TMC, Union Minister for State Babul Supriyo, actress-turned-politician Roopa Ganguly and national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh were the star campaigners for the BJP. For the Left Front, the main campaigners were CPI (M) state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra and Left Front chairman Biman Bose, while for the Congress, state president Adhir Chowdhury reached out to the voters of the city.
