18K trouble-mongers identified from districts
Kolkata: The office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Bengal, has identified around 18,000 trouble-mongers in the state. A report in this regard has been sent to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
It may be mentioned that Deputy Election Commissioner Sudeep Jain during his visit to the state on March 16 had directed the police and administrative officials to identify the trouble-mongers and make preventive arrests. Following Jain's visit, CEO Ariz Aftab instructed ADG (Law and Order) Siddh Nath Gupta to make a list of such people and submit it to his office within a week.
According to sources in the CEO office, 18399 people might be responsible for creating trouble during the upcoming elections. During the Assembly elections in 2016, the figure was 16,428 while during the Lok Sabha polls of 2014, it was 12,904.
According to the report, South 24-Parganas topped the list with 2,213 trouble-mongers, Murshidabad and Birbhum accounted for 1,726 such people each while in Kolkata around 752 people have made it to the list. Kolkata is eighth among the districts when it comes to the number of trouble-mongers. Interestingly, Howrah Police Commissionerate, Jhargram Police district and South Dinajpur with 73, 83 and 112 people respectively are the most peaceful zones in respect to the probable trouble-makers.
"Apart from making preventive arrests, the Commission has also asked for strict execution of the Non-bailable Arrests Warrant (NBW), seizure of arms, ammunition and illicit liquor. We have been asked to send periodical reports to the ECI along with the data compiled from the districts," an official in the CEO office mentioned.
However, a source in the EC office said this is not the final list as it is based on the present situation.
The identification process is going on and the CEO office along with the police administration is keeping a strict vigil on whether there is entry of any outsiders from the bordering states or countries during the elections.
The source added that the Commission is considering sending an additional 40 companies of the Central Forces particularly for districts like Jhargram, West Midnapore, Nadia, Murshidabad, South 24-Parganas, North 24-Parganas, Cooch Behar and Darjeeling which share their borders with neighbouring countries or states.
