Body cameras to GPS tracking: ECI tightens vigil for Bengal polls

THe Election charge of bharat (ECI) has implemented an expanded surveillance fabric exclusively for the w Bengal gathering elections. This includes introducing body cameras for micro-observers and central force personnel, GPS tracking for Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) vehicles, and taking over all government-installed CCTV cameras in assembly constituencies, according to ECI officials. These measures are specific to West Bengal, and will not be implemented in Tamil Nadu, which goes to polls for the first phase on April 23.The overhaul is directly shaped by documented surveillance failures in previous elections. According to senior ECI officials, when the Commission reviewed footage from cameras deployed during the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it found that approximately 30% of the cameras had no recording at all. The agency that supplied web cameras for both elections has since had its contract cancelled and three new vendors have been selected. “The Commission has made it clear that there should be no lapse in the conduct of polling. If violence or disturbance takes place at a booth, the poll will be stopped and re-conducted. Repolling will be held as many times as required,” the senior ECI official said.The Commission has decided to equip micro-observers, members of central forces, and state police personnel with body cameras so that minute-by-minute details on the ground are recorded. If any complaint or dispute arises, the footage will be examined. “The move extends accountability beyond fixed camera positions to the personnel moving within and around booths,” the same official said.The commission has also taken control of all CCTV cameras installed by government departments in the concerned assembly constituencies. This includes cameras in government buildings, offices, hospitals, colleges and those installed on roads by traffic police. Instructions have been issued for immediate action if suspicious activity is detected on any of these feeds, confirmed by ECI officials.For booth coverage, AI-enabled CCTV cameras will be installed across all polling booths in the state. Sensitive booths will have three cameras each and non-sensitive booths will have two—one inside and one outside. In super-sensitive booths, professional videographers will additionally be deployed. All cameras will be placed to provide a 360-degree view of polling activity and linked in real time to district control rooms at district electoral officer (DEO) offices and to the central control room at the chief electoral officer’s (CEO) office in Kolkata.A booth is marked sensitive if it has a history of violence, booth capturing, or voter intimidation in previous elections, or if more than 75% of votes in a past election went to a single candidate—a statistical marker of coercion. Geographic remoteness, caste or community tension, and the presence of identified troublemakers in the area are also considered. A booth becomes super-sensitive when multiple such factors converge. In West Bengal, the commission identified the majority of booths in North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Murshidabad as falling under this category.GPS trackers will be fitted to vehicles assigned to the CAPF’s Quick Response Teams (QRT). This will allow ECI-appointed central observers to monitor in real time whether deployed personnel are at their assigned locations. ECI official mentioned above further added, “The measure directly responds to complaints from previous elections, where CAPF personnel were diverted from booths where they were most needed. The cameras fitted in vehicles will have battery backup to continue recording even when the engine is off.”According to the commission, West Bengal’s surveillance overhaul is grounded in a documented record of electoral violence at a level that no other poll-bound state this cycle witnessed. After the 2021 assembly election results, the National Human Rights Commission received 1,979 complaints involving approximately 15,000 victims across 23 districts — documenting 29 murder complaints, 391 cases of grievous injury, 12 sexual assaults, and 940 instances of arson or vandalism. Local police failed to register approximately 60% of FIRs filed by victims. The 2023 panchayat elections and 2024 Lok Sabha elections sustained the pattern. Notably, no comparable inquiry has been initiated against Kerala, Assam, Puducherry or Tamil Nadu.Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Debjit Sarkar welcomed the measures, saying, “The ECI should take every possible step to control violence and ensure accountability of officials without any bias. West Bengal has seen over 50 years of politically motivated violence in the name of democracy — that cycle must be broken.”HT reached out to Trinamool Congress (TMC) for reaction but the party was not immediately available for a comment.Over 2,400 central forces companies, totaling nearly 190,000 personnel, are being deployed for the two-phase election. The Commission has also deployed 474 observers in West Bengal. This includes 294 general observers, one for each assembly constituency—the highest deployment for any state in this election cycle and more than 50% of all general observers deployed nationally across all poll-bound states. West Bengal also has 84 police observers deployed, the highest in absolute numbers among all poll-bound states.‘Lakhsman Rekha’ outside polling stationsThe ECI has also decided to set up dedicated verification counters outside polling stations in West Bengal to check the identity of voters before they enter the booth — a measure that adds a new layer to the standard polling-day procedure. Under the existing system across India, all voter verification takes place inside the polling station, where a polling officer checks the voter’s name against the electoral roll and verifies identity documents before marking ink and allowing the vote.The new system shifts the first level of verification to an external counter at the 100-metre perimeter — marked with white chalk and termed by the ECI as the “Lakshman Rekha” — before a voter is allowed to approach the booth entrance. A Booth Level Officer (BLO) and a government official will conduct the initial document checks at the boundary, followed by a second round of verification inside the booth, taking the total number of checkpoints from one to two.A key feature of the system addresses voters whose faces are covered — by a burqa, ghunghat, scarf or other cloth. Under the existing procedure, such voters enter the polling station directly, and their identity is verified inside the booth. Under the new system, face verification will take place at the external counter and will be conducted exclusively by women officials, including Anganwadi sevikas, female polling staff and women CAPF personnel.On March 15, HT reported that the ECI was considering setting up such counters, particularly for verifying voters with covered faces. “The verification will be uniform — it will be conducted only by women officials, female polling staff and Anganwadi sevikas,” a senior ECI official said, requesting anonymity.The system goes further than the Bihar assembly elections precedent, where Anganwadi sevikas were deployed at over 90,000 polling stations to assist in identity verification of women with face coverings; however, that process was conducted entirely inside the polling station, with no external verification. The introduction of an external counter marks a departure from the ECI’s 1994 guidelines, issued under then Chief Election Commissioner TN Seshan, which required all identification checks to be conducted inside the polling station in a private space and only by female officials. The new West Bengal system shifts the first checkpoint outside the booth while retaining the condition that only women officials will carry out the verification