India News | EC Full Bench Arrives in Kolkata to Review Poll Preparedness

Kolkata, Jan 20 (PTI) The full bench of the Election Commission arrived in Kolkata on Wednesday evening to review the preparedness ahead of the assembly elections in West Bengal.

The officials, led by led by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, arrived here from poll-bound Assam.

Arora is being accompanied by Election Commissioners Sushil Chandra and Rajiv Kumar, among others.

On Thursday, they will be holding meetings with Chief Electoral Officer Ariz Aftab and Additional Director-General (Law and Order) Gyanwant Singh, who is also the nodal officer of the state police.

The EC officials are also scheduled to meet representatives of political parties before meeting officials of the central and state regulatory agencies.

BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy said his party will urge the visiting EC officials to do whatever is needed for ensuring free and fair polls in West Bengal.

"I am of the view that a section of the police force here is working in a partisan manner, serving the ruling party," he said.

The EC officials will also hold a review meeting with divisional commissioners, district election officers and senior police officers, sources in the state poll panel said.

They will also be meeting Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, Home Secretary HK Dwivedi, DGP Virendra and other senior officials.

They will be leaving for Delhi on Friday.

The assembly elections in West Bengal are likely in April-May.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)