New Delhi: The first phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections 2026 took place on April 23. Since morning, people queued up in long lines at the booths.
Despite sporadic reports of unrest, the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the CRPF personnel took strict action to ensure a largely peaceful election. The second phase of voting is going to take place on April 29. A question that is doing the rounds is: Will the voters be able to take mobile phone inside the booth while casting their vote? There is a lot of discussion in various quarters about this.
Can voters take mobile phone inside polling booth?
According to a report by the TV9 Bangla citing sources in the ECI, there is a ban on taking mobile phones inside the booth. Also, in this election, a 100-meter ‘Lakshman rekha’ has been created around the booth with marks drawn with white chalk. The entry of any person other than the voters inside that ‘Lakhshman rekha’ is completely prohibited. The BLO and an assistant are standing outside this boundary to verify the documents of the voters. As per the report, no mobile phones can be taken inside this 100-meter boundary.
The report adds that bags are kept inside many booths. If someone carries a mobile phone, then he or she will have to put it in that bag and enter the booth to vote. The entire matter is being monitored by the central forces. In the first phase, voting was held in 152 centers across 16 districts. Notably, the first phase witnessed a high voter turnout. The Phase 2 of the elections will take place on April 29 and will cover seven districts. They are: North 24 Parganas, South Parganas, Howrah, Hoogly, Kolkata, Nadia, and Purba Bardhaman.
