The Election Commission has designated as sensitive over 30 per cent of 5,298 booths in the Darjeeling, Raiganj and Balurghat Lok Sabha segments where the polling will be held on Friday.

In the first phase of the polling on April 19, 837 (around 20 per cent) of 5,814 booths were identified as sensitive.

The number of sensitive booths is 1,697 in the second phase of the polling.

Given the increased number of sensitive booths in the second phase, the EC has directed chief electoral officer (CEO), Aariz Aftab, and the special police observer to make comprehensive security arrangements to prevent any untoward incidents.

“To avert political violence during or after the polls, we are trying to pull in additional central forces for the next phases in the state,” an EC official said.

According to the EC data, 734 of 1,999 booths in Darjeeling, 508 of 1,730 polling stations in Raiganj and 455 of 1,569 booths in Balurghat have been tagged as sensitive. This means over 36 per cent of Darjeeling booths are sensitive, the most among the three constituencies.

“Darjeeling has the maximum number of sensitive booths because of its topography. Many booths are near the international border and we have made adequate arrangements irrespective of their sensitivity. We have deployed 88 companies of central forces in Darjeeling,” a senior official in the CEO's office said.

However, the commission has deployed 111 companies of central forces in the Raiganj segment — the maximum in the second phase — because the vulnerability factor in this constituency is very high. Of the 111 companies, 60 have been deployed in the Raiganj police district and 51 in the Islampur police district.

The vulnerability factor depends on the community structure, religiosity, social life, incidents of past violence and inputs provided by district election officers and police.

“The Raiganj Lok Sabha seat is our biggest challenge. We are keeping a close watch on places like Islampur, Goalpukur, Kaliaganj and Chakulia. We have asked all returning officers to be on high alert, ” the official said.

“At present, 303 companies of central forces are stationed in the state and 272 of them will be used for polling tomorrow. Six companies will be deployed for guarding strong rooms. The remaining 25 companies have been sent to other districts for maintaining law and order,” the senior official in the CEO's office said.

More than 13,000 state police personnel will also be deployed for the second phase of the polling.

Apart from the central forces to man the booths, the EC has put in place 270 QRTs (quick response teams) also for Friday's voting. Of them, 111 will be stationed in Raiganj, followed by 50 in the Darjeeling hills, 63 in South Dinajpur district, 21 in Siliguri and 15 in Kalimpong district.

“The QRTs will move in GPS-installed vehicles to enable easy tracking and faster mobilisation. The commission has also installed AI-enabled CCTVs in most of the booths and deployed micro-observers at all polling stations,” the official said.