Mumbai, April 18: The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Friday that the number of counting centers for the two-phase elections in West Bengal, scheduled for later this month, has been reduced to 87.
In the 2016 state assembly elections, there were 90 counting centers, which increased to 108 in 2021. According to a notification issued by the commission on Friday afternoon, this year’s count has been lowered to 87.
Among the 87 counting centers, the highest number will be in South 24 Parganas with 12 centers, followed by North 24 Parganas with 8 and Hooghly with 6. The least number of centers will be in Kalimpong, Alipurduar, and Jhargram, each having one center.
Voting in West Bengal will take place in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The counting of votes will occur on May 4, with results to be declared the same day.
Meanwhile, the commission reported that as of Tuesday night, a total of 1,838,572 cases of property defacement have been removed. Of these, 1,580,892 cases were related to public property, while the remaining 225,170 pertained to private property.
The commission has been actively removing unauthorized political advertisements. Recent reports indicate that extensive defacement on public and private properties across all districts has been cleared, and district election officials have issued certificates confirming the removal of defacement from all public properties under their jurisdiction.
According to another press release from the commission, the total value of items seized during this campaign in West Bengal has reached ₹4.27 billion. This includes ₹2.1 billion in cash, ₹8.1 billion in liquor, ₹10 billion in narcotics, ₹5.4 billion in precious metals, and ₹17.2 billion in free gifts and other items.
The commission credited the efforts of 2,728 flying squad teams (FST) and 3,142 static surveillance teams (SST) deployed in West Bengal for these seizures.
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