Kolkata: On a day, the Centre cleared the immediate deployment of 315 companies of additional Central armed forces for the forthcoming polls to the three-tier Panchayat system in Bengal, the State Election Commission (SEC) has sought 485 companies of additional forces from the Union Home Ministry. A total 822 companies of central forces may be deployed in the election process.
These 315 companies were being deployed from Friday. This is in addition to the 22 companies whose deployment had already been cleared earlier. The Union home minister has sent a communication to the SEC in this regard. The 315 companies will be having a mix of personnel from Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Railway Protection Force (RPF).
Central forces carried out a route march in several places of Bengal on Friday. A meeting was also held regarding the deployment of central forces. On Thursday the state election commission had sought 800 additional companies of central armed forces in addition to the 22 companies that it had sought earlier.
Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition in the State Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari claimed that considering the polls being conducted in a single- phase on July 8, a total of 822 companies will not be adequate. He has also indicated approaching the Calcutta High Court again on this count. The Trinamool Congress leaders on the other hand expressed doubts that the decision to send central armed forces in phases is an indirect pressure on the state election commission to succumb to the pressure from the opposition to break up the single-phase election into multiple phases.
In the 2013 West Bengal Panchayat polls, where too central armed forces were deployed following the insistence of the then state election commissioner, Meera Pandey, the election was held in five phases. In 2013, as many as 820 companies or 82,000 personnel of central armed forces were deployed for the five-phase polls.
A day after the Calcutta High Court pulled up State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha for not seeking an adequate number of Central armed forces for the July 8 panchayat elections in West Bengal, the state poll panel on Thursday sought 822 companies of paramilitary forces from the Centre.