Challenge is to conduct peaceful polls in West Bengal: CEC
By IANSFriday, February 4, 2011
NEW DELHI - Their three main buzzwords are “free, fair and peaceful” elections. And in West Bengal where the state assembly elections are due, the challenge is to conduct a peaceful election, Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi said Friday.
“Every state has its issues and in Bengal, armed violence is a concern,” Quraishi told reporters at an interaction here.
West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry are scheduled to have their assembly elections by May this year.
“Every state has its issues. Assam has its border issues and militancy, Tamil Nadu has intense political rivalry… we go down to each of the states and do a vulnerability mapping and plan accordingly,” Quraishi said.
In Maoist affected areas for instance, he said, the polling time is reduced so that the process can be completed within daylight hours, and booths maybe relocated, helicopters used for faster movement and intelligence gathering done.
“In Bengal, the Left told us that our team didn’t go to some areas, which are vulnerable and we asked them to send a list. They said that they will send us the list in one week but we haven’t got anything till date,” he added.
