EC holds pre-poll coordination meeting with 25 agencies of state, Centre in Kolkata

Kolkata, Dec 11 (PTI) The Election Commission on Thursday held a coordination meeting with representatives of 25 state and central agencies at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in Kolkata to assess pre-poll preparedness and review ground conditions ahead of the Model Code of Conduct, an official said.

Senior officials from both the state and central governments attended the meeting, including the DGP, Kolkata Police commissioner, and top officers from the BSF, SSB, CISF and RPF, he added.

The special director of the Enforcement Directorate's Kolkata zone was also present, the official said.

"The meeting was convened primarily to assess pre-election preparedness," he added.

During the meeting, CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal collected necessary inputs and status reports from various departments.

"Today's meeting is a routine pre-poll coordination exercise aimed at reviewing ground conditions across different regions before the election Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into force," the official told PTI.

"The purpose of the meeting was to identify areas where additional vigilance may be required once the election is announced and to assess whether any specific alerts or preventive measures need to be issued in advance," he said.

Information gathered from such inter-agency meetings typically forms the basis for the Commission's deployment strategies and security arrangements during elections, the official elaborated.

The meeting also included senior representatives from the state transport department, Income Tax department, Enforcement branch, customs, the Reserve Bank of India, the Coast Guard, the Airports Authority of India, as well as officials from the forest and the postal departments, he said.

"Reports were sought from each participating agency," the poll official said. PTI SCH MNB