Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday announced that the number of counting centres for the forthcoming two-phase elections in West Bengal later this month has been reduced to 87.​
The number of counting centres was 90 in the 2016 state assembly polls, which was subsequently increased to 108 in 2021. This year, the number has been reduced to 87, according to a Commission notification issued on Friday afternoon.​
Of the 87 counting centres, the maximum will be in South 24 Parganas with 12, followed by 8 in North 24 Parganas and 6 in Hooghly. The least will be for Kalimpong, Alipurduar, and Jhargram with one each.​
The two-phase polling in West Bengal will be held on April 23 and April 29. Counting will be conducted, and the results declared on May 4.​
At the same time, the Commission informed on Friday that till 9 p.m. on Tuesday, the total number of property defacements removed stood at 18,38,572.
Of these, 15,80,892 were cases related to public property defacements, and the remaining 2,25,170 were related to private property defacements.​
Extensive drives to remove unauthorised political advertisements are ongoing. As per the latest reports, widespread public and private property defacements have been cleared across all districts, and the District Election Officers have certified removal of defacement from all public properties under their jurisdiction, the Commission stated.​
As per another press note from the Commission, the value of seizures in West Bengal following the drive till date is Rs 427 crore. Out of that amount, Rs 21 crore is cash seizure, Rs 81 crore is liquor, Rs 100 crore is drugs and narcotics, Rs 54 crore is precious metals, and Rs 172 crore is freebies and others.​
The Commission credited these seizures to the 2,728 flying squad teams (FSTs) and 3,142 static surveillance teams (SSTs) deployed in West Bengal to carry out the drives.​
The Commission also stressed that enforcement authorities should ensure that ordinary citizens are not inconvenienced or harassed during checks and inspections for the enforcement of these directives. District Grievance Committees have been set up to address any grievances in this regard, the press note added.​
(IANS)
