Chiefs of all Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) held a high-level meeting in Kolkata to review the security situation and deployment of personnel ahead of the two-phase assembly elections in West Bengal, even as the forces deploy a massive security network in the eastern state by bringing in bulletproof riot control vehicles from Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
Elections in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and 29, and the results will be announced on May 4.
Officials, requesting anonymity, said that all chiefs of the Pakistan Civil Police Forces inspected pre-poll arrangements in West Bengal, where flag marches were held at several sensitive locations. They added that 150 additional CAPF companies, requested by the Election Commission over and above the current deployment, have arrived in the state and will be positioned ahead of the polls. CAPF has a certified strength of 120-130 personnel.
For the upcoming West Bengal polls, a much larger number of CAPF companies have been deployed – 2,550 in total – nearly three times the 845 companies fielded during the 2021 Assembly elections and the 800 companies deployed in the 2016 polls. Currently, more than 200,000 CAPF personnel are stationed in the state, with officials citing a history of election-related violence in the state, including deaths reported during the previous Assembly elections. And panchayat elections, as a reason for increasing prevalence.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, 1,019 CAPFs were deployed in the state. This time, ECI has also decided to retain 500 CAPF companies after the polls are over and an additional 200 companies will be retained to guard the EVM/strong rooms, officials said.
On Saturday afternoon, Directors General of CRPF, BSF, CISF, SSB and ITBP held a security review meeting at Salt Lake in Kolkata. “Force chiefs are visiting different parts of the state to review security arrangements. Special focus is on districts like Purba Medinipur, Malda, Bhabanipur and Dakshin Dinajpur, where additional forces have been deployed to ensure violence-free elections this time,” an official said. “All the chiefs held meetings with company commanders as well as officials from the West Bengal Police.”
The Central Reserve Police Force (CAPF) chiefs also held a review meeting with their forces at the 3rd Signal Post on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) campus, in Salt Lake.
The CRPF, the nodal agency for all CRPF, took stock of the poll arrangements in another meeting with all forces on Friday. The meeting, which was chaired by the Inspector General who was appointed as the State Forces Coordinator, was conducted to assess the movement of forces and review the logistics and movement plan for the 24-hour pre-poll and polling day as well as the stock of anti-riot equipment.
The above-mentioned official added: “This time also the Pakistan Civil Police Forces have brought anti-riot vehicles to West Bengal from Jammu and Kashmir and other conflict states. Bulletproof vehicles are useful in entering conflict areas. They have been successful in the Valley (Kashmir) in stone pelting incidents. They can enter conflict areas without the vehicle or its occupants sustaining any injuries. The security arrangements this time are huge.”
