The Election Commission of India will deploy Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel in all booths in first phase of the Lok Sabha poll in Bengal. In the first phase, scheduled on 19 April, voting will be held for three seats in Bengal, including Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, and Alipurduar. It has been decided by the Election Commission of India that in these three seats, Central forces will be deployed at all booths in the first phase. There will be no state police present at the booths on the day of voting.

Only personnel from Central forces will be stationed at the booths. Already 177 companies of central forces have arrived in Bengal, with another 100 expected to arrive soon. According to commission sources, 100 per cent of the central forces will provide security for the election in the first phase, and whatever additional forces are needed will enter Bengal by the 10th of this month. Two special observers have been appointed for the Lok Sabha elections in Bengali. One of them is a General Special Observer, former IPS officer Aloke Sinha. The second is former IPS officer Anil Kumar Sharma, who will serve as a Special Police Observer.

These two observers attended a lengthy meeting at the Chief Electoral Officer’s office yesterday. Officials from the CRPF and BSF also attended the meeting. It was decided there that deploying central forces in these three districts is crucial due to the history of political violence in Panchayat elections and other previous elections. Without taking this step, there is no way to restore voter confidence in the election process. Central forces must be stationed at all booths. Typically, a Lok Sabha constituency has thousands of booths, sometimes with two or three booths in the same building. From that perspective, deploying Central forces at all booths in these three districts requires a substantial number of personnel. Because of this, it may be necessary to deploy four or more companies or a significant number of personnel per booth.

For the Lok Sabha elections in Bengal, a record 920 companies of forces have been deployed, which is unprecedented. However, it has been observed in the past that the entire force does not always arrive together because voting takes place across the entire country. However, according to commission sources, voting will take place in many states in the first three to four phases. After that, there will be no difficulty in bringing those forces to Bengal. The Commission will ensure that there are no hitches in conducting free and fair elections.