Kolkata. The Election Commission of India on Tuesday said that illegal and unauthorized items worth about Rs 327.44 crore have been seized in West Bengal between February 26 and April 6. The state is gearing up for crucial two-phase assembly elections later this month. The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal has issued a press statement sharing details of illegal and unauthorized items seized in the state. The statement said that a total of Rs 11.01 crore was seized. The value of illicit liquor is Rs 57.71 crore, while the value of drugs and narcotics is Rs 67.35 crore. The value of precious metals seized during the same period was Rs 38.55 crore, while the value of other goods was Rs 162.80 crore.
According to the statement, till April 4, 251 unlicensed arms and ammunition were seized in the state and the number of cartridges is 401. During the same period, 127.7 kg of explosives were seized and the number of bombs was 887.
Also, the State CEO Office informed that extensive drives are being carried out to remove unauthorized political advertisements.
The statement further said, “ECI is committed to ensure that elections to all 294 assembly seats in West Bengal are conducted with the highest standards of transparency, fairness and security. Voting is scheduled to take place on April 23 and April 29. The West Bengal CEO Office is closely monitoring compliance with the Model Code of Conduct and deployment of Central Armed Police Forces.”
Very strict security arrangements have been made for the assembly elections to be held in West Bengal. The largest ever deployment of paramilitary forces has been made in the state. About 2,400 paramilitary companies have been deployed in the state. Their total number is said to be around 2,40,000.
The special thing is that this deployment is more than double that of the last election, which shows the seriousness of the administration regarding security this time.
This time a record number of women security personnel have also been deployed. According to the information, about 20,000 women paramilitary personnel, i.e. about 200 companies, have been deployed for election duty.
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