Each of the 70,000-odd polling booths across West Bengal would be wrapped in a four-tier security ring during the coming elections.
“There would be a four-tier security arrangement for polling booths in West Bengal,” additional chief electoral officer of West Bengal NK Sahana said on Thursday.
The first layer would comprise central paramilitary forces guarding the booths. Along with them, there would be home guards to maintain the queue and check the identity of voters. They would carry only lathis.
Three to four polling booths would form a sector. The second layer of security would be at the sector level and would be also manned by central forces. Each sector would be under the command of a sector officer who would also be an officer from the central forces. This layer would look into issues such as whether voters are being intimidated or whether voters are having any problem in reaching the polling stations.
At the third level, there would be quick response teams. They would be pressed into action whenever any violence or untoward incidents.
At the outermost level, there would be radio flying squads, which would patrol the area to keep a tab on the law and order situation and communicate with the other three tiers and the control room. “We have identified nearly 24,000 booths in West Bengal that are sensitive. Each of these would have micro-observers who are central government officers. This apart there would be web-casting,” Sahana said.
{{/usCountry}}At the outermost level, there would be radio flying squads, which would patrol the area to keep a tab on the law and order situation and communicate with the other three tiers and the control room. “We have identified nearly 24,000 booths in West Bengal that are sensitive. Each of these would have micro-observers who are central government officers. This apart there would be web-casting,” Sahana said.
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