Observing that deployment of 22 companies of Central forces across 22 districts of the State was ‘thoroughly inadequate ‘ the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) to requisition within 24 hours sufficient number of Central forces to be deployed in all the districts and the number of battalions/ companies shall be not less that forces deployed in the 2013 panchayat elections.
“It [the deployment] has to be definitely more than the same [deployment in 2013] as the number of districts have increased and the number of electorate has increased since 2013,” the Division Bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Uday Kumar said in the order. The court expressed hope that the order would be complied with in letter and in spirit and any “attempt to make the order unworkable may result in adverse consequences”.
The WBSEC had sought to deploy 22 companies of Central forces for the upcoming panchayat polls, whereas in 2013, about 825 companies of Central forces were deployed during panchayat polls. The court observed that 1.05 lakh State police and 82,000 Central forces were requisitioned by the WBSEC in 2013.
