3 min readKolkataMar 9, 2026 06:15 PM IST
A three-member BJP delegation met the full bench of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in Kolkata on Monday. During the meeting, the BJP team, comprising Sisir Bajoria, Tapash Roy, and Jagannath Chattopadhyay, is learnt to have submitted a letter consisting of their demands apart from placing them orally.
The BJP has urged the ECI to conduct the Assembly polls in one or two phases instead of holding elections in Bengal in multiple phases spanning several weeks. The saffron party has also demanded that all officers transferred by the poll body during the previous three elections (2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections and 2021 Assembly polls) should also be mandatorily transferred in the run-up to the 2026 Assembly polls.
The Opposition party has urged the ECI to deploy Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel well in advance of the polls, to familiarise themselves with the local area instead of depending on the state police.
The BJP leaders stated that the Nodal Officer of the CAPF should be given instructions not to accept any hospitality from locals, as was witnessed during the previous elections.
The three-member team has also demanded that polling stations be set up in large multi-storied complexes without any exception as per ECI norms.
A BJP source said the party has asked ECI to put in place a two-stage identification of voters at the polling station – one before entering the polling station by CAPF personnel, and once again inside the booth by presiding/polling officer(s).
“Agents of political parties should sit outside the room where the poll is being taken and not inside, as is being done in West Bengal. Every polling station should be under the supervision of the CAPF with no presence of State/City Police or Volunteers, or in any other
form for any reason whatsoever, including managing the queue,” said the letter.
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According to the BJP, no contractual appointees, including contractual teachers, should be deployed as polling officers, and any logistical requirement for polling, like water, etc., should be provided by an outsourced agency.
The letter further stated, “Webcams should be installed to cover every polling station and access to monitor the same be given to all candidates and or National and State Parties. Any polling station where the Webcam becomes non-functional for any reason, polling should be immediately stopped. If the stoppage is prolonged, a repoll be ordered in that polling station.”
Moreover, as per the BJP, counting should be held only in district and sub-divisional towns.
The ECI full bench is in the city on a two-day visit, where they are meeting all representatives of all political parties and other administrative heads.
