Six LS constituencies in Bengal identified as ‘financially sensitive’ seats

Kolkata : Six out of the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal have been identified as 'financially sensitive' seats, sources in the state Chief Electoral Officer's (CEO) office said on Tuesday. The six constituencies are Maldaha Uttar, Maldaha Dakshin, Darjeeling, Asansol, Bangaon, and Kolkata Uttar.

The poll panel has also directed the central agencies handling finance-related matters such as the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department to keep a special vigil on these six constituencies in the run-up to the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls starting April 19.

“These six constituencies have been identified as ‘financially sensitive’ based on the instances of recovery of cash and liquor, among others, from areas under their jurisdiction in the last two elections, namely the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the 2021 Assembly polls,” said an official from the CEO's office.

The Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar, has already said that a special portal will be launched involving the central agencies with expertise in probing financial irregularities to prevent the use of money power in the elections.

Meanwhile, sources in the CEO's office also said that the expenditure observers nominated by the poll panel for the three constituencies of Cooch Bengal, Alipurduar, and Jalpaiguri, which will go to the polls in the first phase on April 19, will reach the state this week.

Their task will be to monitor whether the expenses made by the political parties for the polls are as per the norms set by the Election Commission.

Three IRS officers have been appointed as expenditure observer for these three constituencies -- Sanjay Kumar for Cooch Behar, M.M. Meena for Jalpaiguri, and S.K.D. Yadav for Alipurduar.