A total of 100 more companies of central forces will arrive in West Bengal next week for the upcoming elections.
Three constituencies in north Bengal – Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, and Alipurduars – will go to polls in the first phase.
A total of 100 more companies of central forces will arrive in West Bengal next week, news agency PTI reported on Saturday. The Election Commission (ECI) is planning to deploy 277 companies in the first phase of polling in the state on April 19. Three constituencies in north Bengal – Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, and Alipurduars – will go to polls in the first phase.
At present, 177 companies of central forces are deployed in different districts of West Bengal. Another 100 companies of central forces will arrive in the state by Wednesday, an official told the news agency. A total of 277 companies will be deployed for the first phase of voting.
“However, more personnel are needed to provide central force cover in all booths. But there has been no confirmation yet of getting more forces. Therefore, in the first phase, state police may also be deployed along with central forces,” he said.
A company in the central armed police forces comprises around 100 personnel. So, 277 companies would amount to 27,700 personnel. Webcasting will be conducted in all the booths, he said. Meanwhile, a total of 47 candidates have filed their nomination papers for the second phase of polling in three Lok Sabha constituencies in the state on April 26.
Darjeeling, Raiganj and Balurghat Lok Sabha seats will go to polls in the second phase. Fourteen candidates have submitted their nomination papers for Darjeeling, 20 for Raiganj, and 13 for Balurghat.
Earlier today, BJP’s Darjeeling MP Raju Bista requested the Centre to pay special attention to some areas in the district where demography has been changing very fast. “Chopra assembly that is in Darjeeling Lok sabha constituency, things are very sensitive here,” he said. It’s in the Chicken Neck Belt area and borders Bangladesh. All illegal things like infiltration and smuggling happen here and its demography has changed very rapidly.”
“The central government should pay special attention to it. The government of West Bengal is changing the demography of Chopra and other places for vote bank politics,” he said while speaking to news agency ANI.
