The ministry of home affairs sent 315 companies of central forces and state armed police (SAP) personnel to West Bengal for rural body polls, scheduled on 8 July after the West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) made a requisition on Thursday for 822 companies.
Central Armed Paramilitary Force (CAPF) includes Central Reserve Police Force (CRFF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Railway Protection Force (RPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) etc and SAPs from states are Assam, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Maharashtra.
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Initially, 115 companies of SAP were cleared for deployment in Bengal by the ministry while the number of central forces was 200 companies.
In a fax message sent by the Union home ministry to the state poll panel chief on Thursday night stated: “All the above state governments and CAPFs are requested to deploy their cops with immediate effect for timely induction of the force in West Bengal.”
Further, it may also be ensured that there is no shortfall in the deployment or change at this stage.
The ministry would send the rest of the companies within a few days, sources at the state election commission said.
Suvendu Adhikari, BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition, is not happy with the home ministry’s decision to send only 337 companies of central forces and SAP in the state where there is regular bloodbath due to political violence.
Political analysts felt that there might be a political strategy behind the BJP-led central government’s decision to offer 315 companies of forces to Bengal in the first phase.
“Home ministry, by sending only 315 companies out of 822, is a strategy to create pressure tactics for holding rural polls in more than one phase. This time, the WBSEC has decided to hold onephase panchayat polls in Bengal on 8 July,” they said.
The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday had taken exception to the WBSEC requisitioning only 22 companies of paramilitary forces as against 825 companies deployed in 2013.
