Campaigning ends for Feb 13 bypolls

“We held meeting with district police officials today and it was decided that central forces will be deployed in all the booths. CRPF jawans have already started holding route marches. Moreover, while a cameraperson will videograph the poll procedure, a micro observer will oversee the process,” said Bhagwan Das, one of the three general observers at Bongaon.

Ajay Singh Gangvaar, another general observer, said webcasting will be held in every booth where connectivity isn’t a problem.

“At the moment, the situation looks quite okay and I don’t anticipate any trouble,” he added.

Krishnaganj general observer E Devadasan said he had been touring the area and claimed there would not be any law and order problem on the day of the election.

“As many as 37 companies of central forces have been deployed here and my perception is that polls will be free and fair,” he said, adding that at least three CRPF jawans will guard each booth.

Meanwhile, BJP national secretary and Bengal observer Siddharth Nath Singh visited the office of the chief electoral officer (CEO) on Wednesday to take stock of the security arrangements at Bongaon and Krishnaganj.

“We had already given a list of sensitive booths to the CEO. We went there to share some intelligence regarding routes that we apprehend would be blocked to prevent voters from reaching the booths,” Singh said. He added that the CEO has assured that a large number of security personnel will be deployed, who would guide voters to booths.

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“We will have a control room at our party headquarters in Kolkata. We have instructed all our workers to carry smart phones and take videos or photographs in case there is any incident of violence and send it to us through Whatsapp. We will send it to the CEO office and share it with the media as well,” said Singh.

While the Bongaon bypoll was necessitated following the death of Trinamool MP Kapil Krishna Thakur, TMC MLA Sushil Biswas’ death led to the Krishnaganj bypoll.

Polling will take place on February 13 and results declared on February 16.