The polling for 144 wards is scheduled for Sunday across 4,939 booths in the city, and the counting of votes will take place on December 21.
Kolkata: Ahead of the voting for Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) elections, West Bengal police on Saturday heightened vigil across the city and its neighbouring areas, including initiating stringent checks at hotels and various entry points. The polling for 144 wards is scheduled for Sunday across 4,939 booths in the city, and the counting of votes will take place on December 21.
KMC polls will be held without deployment of central armed police forces after a Division Bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj of Culcutta High Court on Friday rejected BJP’s plea for the same. The Bench directed that the state police – and not central forces – will provide security for the polls.
Officers of the Kolkata police force have been visiting hotels and guest houses in the metropolis to keep a tab on the number of guests who have checked-in and those due to arrive in the next two days, a senior police officer told PTI.
We want to ensure that the elections are totally peaceful and we have strengthened vigil in Kolkata, Salt Lake, Howrah, and North and South 24 Parganas districts for that purpose. Areas of focus are Esplanade, New Market, Central Avenue, Gariahat, Ballygunge, Tollygunge, Garia and Salt Lake, he said.
Meanwhile, route march and area domination have also started at various key locations of the city. Kolkata Police would deploy around 23,000 personnel for Sunday’s elections.
There will be 200 police pickets at crucial points of the city. Quick Response Teams (QRT) and Heavy Radio Flying Squads (HRFS) would also be deployed, apart from the usual patrolling teams, the officer added.
Earlier today, police said it arrested two people from the city’s Taratala area after they were found to be in possession of one pistol and ammunition, hours before polling begins. The car in which the arm and ammunition were recovered has been impounded.
Notably, the polls were delayed by around one and half years due to COVID-19 pandemic, as the term of the elected members of the KMC had ended in May 2020.
