Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will have to submit daily reports on deployment and movement of central forces in West Bengal to the home ministry from Friday, 21 days before the first phase of the seven-phase general elections starts in three parliamentary constituencies of Cooch Behar (CB), Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri, in the state on 19 April.
It’s learnt that the Delhi office of the CRPF has directed its counterpart in Kolkata that the concerned officer of the central forces would brief the home ministry about deployment and movements in connection with area dominations in West Bengal every day through email and a hardcopy.
The ministry wants to keep itself updated about the central force movements in the state so that proper utilization of the forces can be done promptly as and when the situation demands.
CRPF’s Delhi office is keeping in regular touch with the state administration and chief electoral officer (CEO) Ariz Aftab to decide deployment of central forces in the state.
Earlier, during rural polls in 2023 in the state, BSF had monitored deployment and movement of central forces.
Already, 150 companies of central forces have been deployed in the state, from 1 March, much before the announcement of dates of Lok Sabha (LS) polls on 16 March, as a confidence-building measure among people.
While addressing in a press conference in the city, a couple of weeks ago, the chief election commissioner, Rajiv Kumar had assured of proper deployment and utilization of central forces.
The commission has again on Monday requisitioned 27 companies of central forces, in addition to the 150 companies already deployed in the state.
The decision on the additional forces, expected to arrive in the first week of April, was taken after Tuesday’s scuffle between supporters of Union minister of state for home Nisith Pramanik and Bengal minister Udayan Guha in Dinhata in CB district.