The Ministry of Home Affairs on July 3 agreed to the deployment of an additional 485 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) as well State Armed Police Forces for the West Bengal panchayat polls. A communication in this regard was sent to the West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) during the day on Monday.
Earlier, the Ministry had directed the deployment of 337 companies of CAPF, of which 224 companies of CAPF have already arrived in the State. Thus, a total of 822 companies of Central forces will be deployed in West Bengal on the day of polling, July 8. The Calcutta High Court had on June 21 directed Central forces that were not less than forces deployed in the 2013 panchayat polls be deployed in the State.
On Monday, the WBSEC submitted a compliance report before the Calcutta High Court, which pointed out that the Commission has designated 4,834 polling booths or 7.8% of the 61,636 polling booths in the State as “sensitive”. While the counsel of the WBSEC was expressing the challenges in deploying Central forces at each of the polling booths, the Ministry’s ascent to deploy 485 companies was brought to the notice of Calcutta High Court.
