About 10K cops from state police to be deployed along with Central Forces
Kolkata: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to monitor the movement of the Central forces 48 hours ahead of the polling time and the surveillance will continue till the voting process ends on the elections days.
It has also been decided that about 10,000 state police forces will also be deployed in the three Lok Sabha constituencies in North Bengal which will go to polls on April 19.
Earlier there were instances where the Central forces were spotted strolling in different places apart from election duties.
Various political parties in earlier elections had complained that the Central forces were not sighted in and around booths on the days of elections.
The EC will form its own surveillance team to monitor the movement and activities of the Central force jawans.
According to sources, the EC has planned to deploy 263 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) in three constituencies of Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, and Cooch Behar during the first phase of voting for the Lok Sabha elections in Bengal on April 19.
The largest contingent of Central forces (112 companies) may be deployed in Cooch Behar from where sitting BJP MP and Union minister Nisith Pramanik is seeking re-election, while 75 companies will be deployed in Jalpaiguri, and 63 companies in Alipurduar. At present, 277 companies of Central forces are present in the state, sources said.
The Union Home Ministry a couple of days ago directed Central forces to send 100 companies, comprising 10,000 troops, to Bengal by April 15, with 25 of these companies being diverted from strife-torn Manipur.
In another development, it has been decided that around 10,000 state police forces will also be deployed in the three Lok Sabha constituencies in North Bengal which will go to poll on April 19.
These state police forces will reach the designated areas 3 days prior to the day of the election.
The tentative plan of deployment of Central forces was taken during the April 6 meeting in Kolkata which was attended by state Chief Electoral Officer Aariz Aftab, Special Police Observer Anil Kumar Sharma, Special General Observer Alok Sinha, IG (CRPF) BK Sharma, and ADG (Legal) Anand Kumar.
