ECI to deploy 1,020 companies of Central Forces in last phase

Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (ECI) will deploy 1,020 companies of Central Forces for the final phase of polling on Saturday. Out of these, 967 companies will be dedicated to poll duty, while 53 companies will be assigned to manage strong rooms and maintain law and order in other districts as nine constituencies go to the polls on June 1.

In Kolkata, where the Kolkata North and Kolkata South Parliamentary Constituencies (PCs) will be voting, 246 companies of security forces will be deployed. This translates to the fact that 24,600 Central Forces personnel will oversee 3,947 polling stations, averaging about 6.5 personnel per booth.

Interestingly, though the poll body is making such a significant deployment of Central Forces, the Commission’s data indicates that only 183 (4.6 per cent) of the total 3,947 polling stations—2,078 in South Kolkata and 1,869 in North Kolkata —are designated as critical.

According to the Commission’s data, there are 117 critical polling stations in Kolkata North and 66 in Kolkata South.

The poll panel has observed that most of the problems happened outside the polling premises and so it has decided to make all arrangements so that the Quick Response Teams (QRT) can reach the troubled spot within 10 minutes.

In the greater Kolkata area, which includes Kolkata North and Kolkata South constituencies as well as parts of the Jadavpur and Dum Dum constituencies, the commission has decided to deploy over 1500 QRTs. Two constituencies in Kolkata along with seven others, including Dum Dum, Jadavpur, Diamond Harbour, Basirhat, Barasat, Mathurapur and Jaynagar will go to polls on Saturday. Among a total of 17470 polling stations, 3682 (21 per cent) booths are considered to be critical.

Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency which has made headlines because of the Sandeshkhali incident has the highest number of critical booths among all the seven constituencies. Of the 1882 polling stations, 1096 (nearly 58 per cent) are considered to be critical. The commission has deployed 81 companies here.

Besides Kolkata and Basirhat, the Commission will deploy 160 companies for Jadavpur, 175 for Dum Dum, 110 for Diamond Harbour, 81 for Barasat and 114 for Mathurapur and Jaynagar Parliamentary Constituencies.

Apart from the Central Forces, the poll body has decided to deploy more than 33000 state forces. Additionally, adequate Quick Response Teams and High Radio Flying Squads (HRFS) are deployed to facilitate swift responses to any disturbances. There will be AI-enabled CCTVs in 100 per cent of the booths.