Kolkata, February 24 (IANS). Regarding the assembly elections to be held in West Bengal, the Election Commission has directed the Bengal Police-Administration to complete the process of identifying sensitive areas as soon as possible.
The Election Commission has directed that if possible, identification of sensitive areas should be completed by the second week of March. The Election Commission will make preliminary plans for the deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) keeping in mind the sensitivity of sensitive areas.
Let us tell you that the Election Commission has decided to deploy CAPFs in the state even before the announcement of voting dates and implementation of the Model Code of Conduct. A total of 480 CAPF companies will be deployed in the state till March 10, out of which 240 companies will be deployed on March 1 and the remaining 240 companies will be deployed on March 10.
A preliminary meeting was held on Monday evening with top police officials of the state. In which the Election Commission clearly directed that the initial 480 companies to be deployed between March 1 and 10 can be kept inactive, and should instead be used for initial area control. These 480 CAPF companies should be deployed in West Bengal in consultation with the central observers appointed by the Election Commission.
Sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal said that the Commission has also directed the Central Observers to monitor the deployment process of CAPFs and give daily reports in this regard to the Election Commission. The Commission had already directed the West Bengal government to prepare a detailed deployment plan in consultation with the respective CAPFs and their main force coordinators. The Commission had clarified that the movement and deployment of CAPFs will be coordinated by the CRPF.
In the first phase, 240 companies will be deployed, which will include 110 companies of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), 55 companies of Border Security Force (BSF), 21 companies of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), 27 companies of Indo-Tibetan Police Force (ITBP) and 27 companies of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). In the second phase, 240 companies will be deployed, which will include 120 companies of CRPF, 65 companies of BSF, 16 companies of CISF, 20 companies of ITBP and 19 companies of SSB.
–IANS
Satyam/AS