About 562 polling stations in the state lack mobile network, a factor that poses security threat for the polling parties. Sources said BSNL has refused to install mobile towers due to financial constraints, which has prompted Election Commission to ask private players to do the job.
The 562 polling stations are located in 30 districts. The maximum numbers of such polling stations are in Betul district. It has 70 such polling booths. The state has 65,283 polling stations where polling will take place in four phases and where MP police and paramilitary forces will be deployed. Though mobile network is needed to update polling percentage, it is also used to transmit information about polling party’s security in case of mishap.
Though no incident of booth capturing was reported in assembly elections held in November 2018, Election Commission is cautious about safety of polling personnel and smooth conduct of Lok Sabha election. Besides, Election Commission wants no hassles in transportation of EVMs for which it needs constant updates on phone, fax etc. The Congress leaders had raised the issue earlier.
Keeping in view the problems, Commission has directed district collectors to ask mobile companies to install mobile towers. The four major players are Reliance Jio, Tata Docomo, Airtel and Vodaphone. In the assembly election, 718 polling stations had no network. After that, 156 stations were connected with the help of private network company. The first phase of polling notification was announced by Election Commission on Tuesday.
Inspector General of Police, law and order, Yogesh Choudhary told Free Press that police will use satellite phones and wireless handsets to keep watch at polling booths. In places where network of wireless phones give weak signals, ‘repeater’ will be installed to get proper network. In 12 regions where wireless handsets cannot receive signal, polling party will use satellite phones.
