As the Election Commission announced on Saturday, the West Bengal Assembly is preparing to receive approximately 14,000 new poll booths during the upcoming 2026 Assembly elections. The meeting of the Parties is scheduled for August 29, at 3:30 p.m.
Next to the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), where the officials will be looking for information from the various political parties on the planned reorganisation of polling stations.
The total number is expected to reach nearly 92,000 with the addition of the exhibition.The resolution to extend the polling booth contains a political debate about the ability of the opposition party to overcome the administrative obstacles that it can overcome.
Depending on the increased number of poll stations, the aforementioned party might be fighting for competently deploying its booth-level agents (BLAs ) throughout West Bengal, complicating its election methods.
This announcement comes against a background of disciplinary action taken against four officials in the declaration payable for alleged mismanagement during the verification of the voter list.
Duo electoral Registration Officers ( EROs ) and two assistant electoral officers ( Assistant EROs ) have been expelled from the southernmost 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur districts by the occidental Bengal Government.
The administration instead chose a departmental procedure during the Commission’s directive that FIRs should be filed.The suspended officials include Debottam Dutta Chowdhury and Tathagata Mandal of Baruipur East constituency as well as Biplab Sarkar and Sudipta Das of Moyna constituency.
They come up with serious charges of procedural misdemeanor involving a shared log in certificate and disregarding the security protocol, which allegedly leads to an abnormality of the axial rotation of voters in their individual constituency.
The Election Commission shall closely monitor the situation in West Bengal and stress the need to adhere to one’s directive as it seeks to revise the electoral axial rotation and reorganise polling stations.
As one of the key territories for the upcoming elections, the Commission is keen to ensure a smooth electoral process, which will contribute to the restoration of public confidence in electoral procedures.
Party across the spectrum will gather at the All Party Meeting alongside many Directors who express concern about the consequences of the booth expansion, especially for smaller resistance teams. As the state prepares itself for the challenges ahead, all eyes will be on the effects of the current meeting and the subsequent improvements in West Bengal’s electoral situation.
