An election officer, Arnab Roy, is missing since Thursday in West Bengal's Nadia district. The police filed a First Information Report (FIR) late last night and started an investigation. According to senior police officers, Arnab Roy was last seen at Shantipur in Nadia. The officer's two mobile phones are switched off, said the police.
Arnab Roy, in his 30s, was in-charge of the EVMs (electronic voting machines) and VVPATs (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) in Ranaghat parliamentary constituency.
Nadia has two parliamentary constituencies - Ranaghat and Krishnanagar - where elections are due on April 29, in the fourth phase.
The police are tracking the officer's phones and scanning CCTV footage of the area. The district administration has alerted the Election Commission in Delhi and the chief election officer in West Bengal about Arnab Roy's disappearance.
"As of now the officer's disappearance is not related to elections. We have appointed someone else in his place," special election observer in West Bengal, Ajay Nayak, told NDTV.
The state government has not yet said anything about the case.
"Nadia District Nodal Election Officer Arnab Roy is reportedly missing. He was at Bipradas Choudhury Polytechnic College for his poll duty yesterday and after lunch went untraceable. He is in-charge of the EVMs and VVPATs. Police has begun investigations," tweeted union minister and BJP candidate of Asansol, Babul Supriyo, and attached a picture of the officer.
Ahead of the third phase, the election observers reviewed the security situation, in a high level meeting today. After violence at booths in Darjeeling's Chopra yesterday, the observers called for 50 more companies of central forces for elections on April 23, when five constituencies of Balurghat, Maldah Uttar, Maldah Dakshin, Jangipur and Murshidabad goes to polls.
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