Election Commission targets new voter cards for all Bihar voters post SIR
New Delhi (PTI): The Election Commission plans to issue new voter identity cards to all electors of Bihar after the completion of the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls in the state, officials said on Sunday.
They added that a final call on when the new cards will be issued is yet to be taken by the poll authority.
Officials said while the plan is to issue every Bihar voter with a new voter card, a final call on when and how the exercise will be carried out is yet to be taken.
When electors were given enumeration forms, they were asked to submit the filled up document along with their latest photograph. The new photograph will be used to update records and issuing fresh voter cards.
According to the draft electoral roll of Bihar published on August 1, the state has 7.24 crore electors.
The final voters list will be published on September 30 and assembly elections in the state are likely to be held in November.
The term of the present assembly ends on November 22 and a new House has to be constituted before that.
According to the EC, 99 per cent of those who had filled up enumeration forms have so far submitted their documents.
Nearly 30,000 people have filed pleas for inclusion in the voters list as their names were missing from the draft rolls.
Separately, Bihar has become the first state where the number of electors per polling stations has been reduced from 1500 to a maximum of 1200 as part of rationalisation exercise to ensure lesser crowding of polling stations on voting day.
Due to rationalisation, the number of polling stations in the state has gone up from 77,000 to 90,000.
The rationalisation exercise will eventually be carried out pan India.
In the last Lok Sabha elections, there were 10.5 lakh polling stations in the country.
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NIA registers case to probe recovery of 79 crude bombs in poll-bound West Bengal
New Delhi (PTI): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday registered a case to probe recovery of 79 crude bombs in poll-bound West Bengal, officials said.
The move came following a directive by the Union Home Ministry in this regard, they said.
In pursuance to the home ministry's order, the anti-terror agency on Sunday registered a case, which was originally filed at Uttar Kashi police station, Bhangar division, Kolkata on Saturday, and took up the investigation, an NIA spokesperson said in a late night statement.
"The case pertains to recovery of 79 crude bombs and other incriminating materials by Kolkata police, which were being stored at a spot, thereby endangering human life and property," the spokesperson said.
Earlier in the day, the Election Commission had directed the West Bengal Police to launch a special drive to arrest those involved in illegal manufacturing of crude bombs in the poll-bound state, an official said.
It asserted that all cases related to the making of any such explosive would be probed by the National Investigation Agency, the official said.
The directive came after the police recovered a large number of crude bombs from the house of a person, allegedly a TMC worker, at Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district, days ahead of the second and final phase of the assembly polls in the state.
The explosives were recovered during a search at the residence of Rafikul Islam following specific inputs, the official said.
The poll panel also issued a warning to senior police officers across the state over any lapse in maintaining law and order before the April 29 polling.
The first phase of the assembly elections in West Bengal was held on April 23, while the second phase will take place on April 29. Votes will be counted on May 4.
A record 93.19 per cent turnout has been recorded in the first round of polling. Bhangar will vote in the second phase.
