KOLKATA: The Calcutta high court on Tuesday directed the West Bengal State Election Commission to ensure CCTV surveillance at all 4,842 polling booths and 365 auxiliary booths across the 144 Kolkata wards going to polls on Sunday.
A division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj also directed the commission to arrange for electronic surveillance in the strong rooms, where EVMs used for the Kolkata civic polls will be stored after polling.
The commission’s counsels, Sonal Sinha and Prashant Kumar Tripathi, said though there was a provision to have CCTV cameras in 25% booths, they would have no difficulty installing the cameras in all booths and the strong rooms. They also said the commission had already ordered returning officers to install CCTV cameras in the strong rooms and in “sensitive booths”.
The bench remarked that CCTV cameras would make the poll process transparent.
Petitioner Debdatta Majhi had moved the court praying for CCTV surveillance in all booths. The petitioner’s counsel pointed out that only 25% booths were under e-surveillance and cited the Girish Park incident in north Kolkata during the 2015 civic polls, when a police sub-inspector was shot near a booth an hour after polling.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/calcutta-high-court-directs-sec-to-ensure-cctv-cover-at-all-civic-poll-booths/articleshow/88288884.cms
