ECI team to visit Bengal to review 2024 LS poll preparedness

Kolkata, Sep 9 (IANS) An Election Commission of India (ECI) delegation will visit Kolkata on Sunday to review the preparedness for 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Sources said that the ECI delegation will include two senior deputy election commissioners namely Dharmendra Sharma and Nitesh Kumar Vyas.

“The main agenda will be to have an idea about the poll preparedness for 2024, where the two senior officers are expected to highlight areas that need to be given more focus,” an official from the CEO, West Bengal office said.

He said that the special focus of the meeting on Monday will be the revision in the voters’ list, where the two senior officials might seek reports on the progress relating to inclusion of names of new voters, deletion of the names of the deceased voters and cancellation of the duplicate EPIC cards.

“The two officers from Delhi might seek discussion on the security issues during the elections in the backdrop of the massive violence in the recently concluded panchayat polls in the state although it was not monitored and conducted by the ECI,” the official said.

Discussions are also likely about the conditions of the electronic voting machines that are in stock in West Bengal and evaluate the necessities for additional EVMs.