CALCUTTA, MAY 27: Elaborate security measures have been taken for holding elections to 79 municipalities spread across 15 West Bengal districts on Sunday and special police bandobast has been made in the sensitive areas in trouble-torn Midnapore.The civic body polls have assumed greater significance in view of the polarisation of voters with the emergence of the Trinamool Congress as political observers feel the results are likely to largely influence the June 25 elections to the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) and the polling to the municipality of the satellite town of Salt Lake.Armed police have been deployed in sensitive booths in Midnapore, Hooghly, Burdwan, North and South 24 Parganas and some other districts which witnessed clashes during campaign periods.Sources in the State Election Commission, which conducts the civic polls, said that 48 lakh voters would determine the fate of 5,707 candidates contesting 1,575 seats in 79 municipalities in the 15 districts.IGP (Law and order) P Mukherjee said that all District Superintendents of Police had been directed to take all possible steps to ensure free and peaceful elections.Counting of votes in 28 civic bodies would be taken up on Monday, while in the rest, counting would be taken up on the next day.Of the 79 municipalities, the CPI(M)-led Left Front was now in control of 45, while Congress and the Trinamool Congress were in power in 33 civic bodies. Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) was controlling one municipality at Mirik in Darjeeling.
