Special Central Police Observer to reach city today

Kolkata: The state's Special Central Police Observer Vivek Dubey will be reaching the city on Sunday. He will remain in the state till the conclusion of the Lok Sabha elections and will be looking after the deployment of security forces.

The Election Commission has decided to deploy 10 companies of the Central Forces for the first two phases of elections. Polls will be held in Alipurduar and Cooch Behar in the first phase on April 11 while the second phase will see elections in Darjeeling, Raiganj and Jalpaiguri on April 18.

"He (Vivek Dubey) will reach Kolkata at around 4.25 pm on Sunday and will remain in the state till completion of the elections. He will have his chamber at the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) office," said Sanjay Basu, additional CEO, Bengal.

The 10 companies of the Central Forces that are deployed in North and South 24-Parganas, Murshidabad, Malda, North Dinajpur, East Midnapore, Birbhum, West Burdwan and Kolkata since March 16 would be used for the first two phases of elections on April 11 and 18 respectively in Alipurduar and Cooch Behar and Darjeeling, Raigunj and Jalpaiguri.

According to sources in the Commission, one company each would be deployed in Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar. Presently, the Central Forces that are deployed in Kolkata, Birbhum and South 24-Parganas would be sent to these three districts of North Bengal for the first two phases.

Along with this, one company of the Central Forces would be deployed in Barrackpore and Diamond Harbour each. One company that is presently deployed in North 24-Parganas would be sent to Barrackpore and among the two companies that are deployed in South 24-Parganas, one would be sent to North Bengal and the remaining one to Diamond Harbour. For the first phase of polls, seven nominations have been filed in Alipurduar (ST) seat and 11 in Cooch Behar. In the second phase, 12 nominations have been filed in Jalpaiguri (SC), 16 in Darjeeling and 14 in Raigunj.