The Election Commission (EC) has decided to move 200 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) from Assam after the third phase of polling on April 6 and deployed them in West Bengal.
According to officials, of the 200 companies, Cooch Behar will get 111 companies and the rest will be deployed in Alipurduar.
Officials said, ahead of third phase polling in West Bengal, 618 companies of central forces will be deployed in the State to ensure peaceful voting. The poll body has planned to deploy 1,000 companies of CAPFs to ensure free and fair polling in the wake of a rise in the number of polling booths from 77, 413 during last Lok Sabha election in 2019 to 1,01,916 in 2021, an increase of 31.65 percent due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Of the 1000 companies, 793 will be on poll duty and also guard strongrooms for the fourth phase.
For the six Assembly Seats — Metia Bruz, Kasba, Jadavpur, Behala East and Behala West in Kolkata, there will be 100 companies. South 24 Parganas already has 89 companies stationed, bringing the total number of forces to 707. In the third phase, the voting will be conducted in 31 Assembly constituencies spread across the three districts of South 24 Parganas, Howrah, and Hooghly. According to officials, over 7000 polling stations in West Bengal have been identified as ‘vulnerable’ and 1000 critical in the state. During the first two phases elections, several incidents of violence have been report in Bengal.
The TMC filed a complaint with the EC on Thursday against CRPF jawans who had been deployed in the State for the peaceful conduct of polls, accusing the jawans of refusing to allow polling agents to operate and assaulting them. The CRPF, on the other hand, has denied all of the charges, calling them baseless. Also, the Election Commission, in response to TMC’s allegation, said that there have been no reports of voter intimidation or harassment.