Election Commission appoints Additional police observers in West Bengal

The Election Commission Friday appointed two additional police observers for the two Lok Sabha constituencies of West Bengal, where polling will be held in the first phase on April 11, a senior official said. The two Lok Sabha seats are Coochbehar (SC) and Alipurduar in north Bengal.

"Vinod Kumar was in charge of both the constituencies. Now Alok Kumar Roy and K Jagdeeshan have been appointed as additional police observers for Coochbehar (SC) constituency," Additional Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Basu told reporters.

Roy is an IPS officer of 1991 batch, while Jagadish is from 1998 batch. Basu said the West Bengal CEO's office has submitted to the EC its observation on BJP leader and candidate Sayantan Basu's alleged hate speech.

Sayantan Basu had on March 26 courted controversy by asking BJP cadres to shoot those who would try to capture booths during the coming Lok Sabha polls.

(With inputs from agencies.)