In a fresh directive, the Election Commission has made it mandatory for polling agents in West Bengal to be registered voters possessing electoral photo identity cards before being allowed to enter a polling booth for the assembly election in the state.

Quoting the EC directive on Friday, chief electoral officer Debasish Sen said that in case agents did not have an EPIC, they should possess a photo identity card issued by the government or its affiliated bodies. But an agent must be a registered elector, Sen said, adding that they should procure entry passes before entering polling booths.

Each candidate would have three polling agents and only one at a time would be allowed to stay inside booths. They would work in a relay system.

The exercise, Sen said, was to systematise the stay of polling agents inside booths. The CEO, in a video conference with the district magistrates and superintendents of police during the day, explained the EC rules and regulations, besides specifying the duties of presiding officers, sector officers, returning officers and others.

By another directive, the EC said that the majority of presiding officers in the first-phase of election in three districts from April 17 would be central government employees. There would be some state staff as presiding officers, Sen said.