New Delhi, April 7 Ahead of the elections to five state assemblies this month, Election Commission (EC) officials on Tuesday reminded that a returning officer can recommend a re-poll at a polling station if webcasting is deliberately interrupted.
The EC officials were responding to a question about the possibility of disruptions at polling stations by political workers and ways to deal with such instances.
Elections in Assam, Kerala, and Puducherry will be held on April 9. Tamil Nadu will hold elections on April 23, along with the first phase in West Bengal, where the second phase of voting is scheduled for April 29.
The officials said that if a returning officer is convinced of a mala-fide intent behind the interruption of webcasting at a polling station, he can explain the circumstances to the election authority while recommending a re-poll under the "adjourned poll" instruction.
Webcasting is an internal arrangement of the EC intended to monitor the voting process at polling stations.
There have been demands from political parties and activists to share the webcasting data, but the EC has changed the rules to prevent it. The election panel can share the webcasting data if ordered by a high court or the Supreme Court.
The EC has issued instructions for webcasting inside and outside all polling stations in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Puducherry for the purpose of monitoring the poll process.