Only three polling booths across two districts fall in voice shadow zones in Bengal, while 19 more booths across seven districts in Bengal lack Internet connectivity, a senior official in the chief electoral officer’s office said on the condition of anonymity on Tuesday.
Based on the available data, there is no mobile phone connectivity in two booths in Alipurduar and one booth in Darjeeling. Five booths in South 24-Parganas, four in Purulia, three in both Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri, two in Alipurduar, and one each in Jhargram and Kalimpong lack Internet facilities.
Out of the total 80,403 booths in Bengal, this marks the lowest number of voice or Internet shadow zones.
“This is the lowest count of polling stations with shadow zones in recent years. We had a meeting with all service providers where we urged them to improve Internet quality in these areas. If this is successful, we plan to implement webcasting in all the booths of the state. Otherwise, we will install CCTV facilities in each of these booths,” the official said.
In an era of polls relying heavily on technology, shadow zones pose a significant communication hurdle.
Voice shadow zones mean phone calls are hindered in those areas. Internet shadow zones mean connectivity is scarce.
According to sources in the chief election officer's unit, booth officials need to transmit voting data to the returning officer every two hours on polling day. Hence, proper Internet is necessary.
The poll panel has thought of alternative arrangements.
“If needed, presiding officers and the booth-level officers will relay messages from their booths to nearby alternative sources,” the official said.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha election, there were 159 and 1,019 polling stations with voice and Internet shadow zones, respectively, in Bengal. The number fell to below 100 polling stations during the 2021 Assembly polls.