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ECI Pushes for Polling Booths in Housing Complexes, Ignores Political Input

A central Election Commission team, led by Deputy Election Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti, will meet District Electoral Officers in Kolkata to discuss setting up polling booths within private housing complexes. The ECI has explicitly advised DEOs to ignore suggestions from political parties regarding which complexes to select, following divergent views from parties. This meeting comes after the Commission expressed displeasure at not receiving a single proposal from DEOs identifying suitable complexes. The ECI has mandated surveys of large residential areas to identify ground-floor accommodations, with a deadline to complete the exercise by December 31.

Key Points: ECI Team Meets Bengal DEOs on Polling Booths in Housing Complexes

  • Central team meeting Bengal DEOs
  • Booths in private housing complexes
  • ECI ignores political party input
  • Survey of high-rises mandated
2 min read

Bengal: ECI team to hold meetings with DEOs tomorrow on polling booths in housing complexes

A central ECI team will meet Bengal DEOs to implement polling booths in high-rise complexes, having advised ignoring political party suggestions.

"completely ignore suggestions from political parties - Election Commission of India"

Kolkata, Dec 29

A central team of the Election Commission of India, headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti, will hold meetings with district magistrates, also designated as District Electoral Officers, on Tuesday to discuss the implementation of the Commission's plan to set up polling booths within housing complexes having high-rise towers for the Assembly elections scheduled next year.

Bharti and his team are scheduled to arrive in Kolkata from Delhi on Tuesday morning.

Later in the afternoon, he will hold a meeting with the DEOs of the two Kolkata-adjacent districts of North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas to discuss modalities for implementing the proposal to establish polling booths inside private housing complexes with high-rise towers.

The meeting will be held at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal. The CEO, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, will also be present at the meeting, an official from the CEO's office confirmed.

Earlier this month, the ECI advised all DEOs to completely ignore suggestions from political parties regarding the selection of private housing complexes with multiple high-rise towers that may be considered suitable for setting up polling booths.

The Commission's advisory to the district magistrates and DEOs in this context came in the wake of divergent views expressed by different political parties over the proposal to establish polling booths within private housing complexes.

Earlier, the Commission had also expressed strong displeasure over not receiving even a single proposal from district magistrates and DEOs identifying private housing complexes with multiple high-rise towers suitable for setting up polling booths.

In the same communication issued earlier this month, the ECI directed that after the publication of the draft electoral roll on December 16, all DEOs should immediately conduct surveys of high-rise buildings, group housing societies, resident welfare association (RWA) colonies, slums and gated communities having at least 250 houses or 500 voters. The survey was to include details of rooms available at the ground-floor level and identify suitable accommodation for polling stations within the premises.

The Commission also instructed the CEO's office to ensure that the entire exercise is completed by December 31.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

R
Rajesh Q
Good move, but implementation will be key. Our RWA meetings themselves get political. The instruction to ignore political party suggestions is crucial to maintain neutrality. Hope the DEOs have the backbone to follow through. Security and crowd management inside complexes will also need careful planning.
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Aman W
Why is there always last-minute pressure? The deadline is Dec 31 and they are meeting on the 30th? This seems like a rushed job. Proper surveys take time. While the idea is good, the execution timeline feels impractical, as usual with our bureaucracy.
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Sarah B
Interesting to see this being tried in Bengal. Makes voting so much more convenient. In many countries, they have polling stations in apartment building lobbies or community halls. This is a step towards modernizing our electoral process. Hope it's rolled out nationwide.
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Vikram M
The article says not a single proposal came from DEOs earlier. This is the real problem – lack of proactive work. Officers wait for orders instead of using common sense. Setting up booths in large complexes is a no-brainer to reduce crowding on roads and schools used as stations.
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Nisha Z
As a working woman, this would save me at least 2 hours on polling day! No more standing in long queues far from home. But I hope they ensure strict secrecy of the ballot. Voting in your own building could lead to subtle pressure from neighbors or building associations. The ECI must have protocols for that.

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