Unfazed by the mega security measures being taken by the Election Commission of India Trinamool Congress leaders have dared the poll panel to “try and defeat Mamata Banerjee if you can.”
On whether his party would be able to repeat the 2014 feat against a determined effort of the ECI to ensure free and fare elections Birbhum district Trinamool president Anubrata Mandal said “earlier also such preparations were taken but finally we blunted everything and won 34 parliamentary seats. It will be an action replay this time.”
Mandal a blue-eyed boy of the Chief Minister for his “excellent” organisational prowess has a number of cases registered against him including the ones asking his party men in public to torch Opposition houses and bomb police vehicles if they intervene.
“We will win because the people are with Mamata Banerjee, we will win because our men are with us and we will win because we have bettered the art of conducting polls taught by the CPI(M)” he had earlier said.
Taking lessons from previous experiences, the ECI is making unprecedented security arrangements this time relying almost entirely on the Central forces which will be mobilised in the State in record numbers, sources say.
Accordingly Bengal is likely to get about 75,000 CPF personnel in place of 62,000 deployed in 2014. Similarly the strength of State police is also likely to be upped to about 26,000 from 22,000 used during parliamentary polls. They will be used only to man the outermost ring of the security system, sources said.
This means each booth will get about four armed CPF men. This apart they are likely to be used for area-domination from weeks in advance so as to instill confidence among the voters to come out and exercise their franchise. Deploying them in advance will also ensure that the CPF gets an early impression of the local geographical map so that they do not have to rely on the local police men to guide them to the areas of unrest if it happens.