E-Paper
Bengal polls: Bike rallies banned, pillion riding restricted before each phase
On the polling days, family pillion riding will be permitted between 6am and 6pm for voting and other essential requirements
The state chief electoral officer (CEO) has ordered restrictions on motorcycle use, two days before each phase of West Bengal’s assembly polling on April 23 and April 29, to prevent voter intimidation and inducement.
In an order addressed to district election officers (DEOs), police commissioners, and superintendents, the CEO said motorcycle rallies are completely banned with no exceptions. Night riding between 6pm and 6am has been prohibited, with exemptions for medical emergencies or family functions. Pillion riding will be banned between 6am and 6pm, with exceptions for medical emergencies, family functions, and essential requirements such as dropping off or picking up children from school.
On the polling days, family pillion riding will be permitted between 6am and 6pm for voting and other essential requirements. Anyone requiring an exemption from the restrictions has to obtain written permission from the local police station.
The order noted that motorcycles with multiple riders, or groups of motorbikes, are deployed as instruments of intimidation and source jamming during elections.
An official in the CEO’s office said political parties, at times, use motorcycles to transport cash or liquor through narrow lanes and by-lanes that typically evade checkpoints focused on four-wheelers on main roads. “The restrictions are intended to eliminate this channel of voter inducement and ensure a violence-free polling environment...”
The order has created uncertainty about its applicability to app-based delivery personnel, many of whom depend on motorcycles for their livelihoods and operate through the night. The directive makes no specific mention of this category of riders.
The order directed DEOs and top police officers to publicise the restrictions through print, electronic, social media, district and block-level publicity machinery, and to coordinate for strict enforcement and monitoring. “No violation that could lead to intimidation or disruption of the free and fair electoral process will be tolerated,” the order said.
