Election Commission of India officials said teams from the National Investigation Agency have been deployed in the seven districts that will vote in the second phase of the West Bengal assembly elections on April 29 to independently search for explosives.
The proactive deployment comes after the agency on April 26 began investigating a bomb seizure case in Uttar Kashipur area of Bhangar in South 24 Parganas on the directions of the Home Ministry. While the teams are present in all the polling areas, a senior IEC official said they have been specifically deployed in Bhangar, Burdwan, Hooghly, Nadia, Baruipur, Kasba, Diamond Harbour, Bishnupur police station area and Barrackpore police commissionerate area. A senior official at the committee said that the teams will record new cases if necessary.
HT reached out to the NIA’s Public Relations Office but did not receive any response.
The NIA’s first formal involvement in the election cycle came after seven judicial officers overseeing the process of reviewing voter lists were taken hostage by a mob in Malda on April 1. The Supreme Court on April 2 directed the Election Commission of India to order a probe into the CBI or NIA, following which the NIA registered a preliminary probe and later arrested the alleged mastermind at the Bagdogra airport.
On Sunday, the Election Commission of India directed the West Bengal Police to launch a special drive to arrest bomb makers across the state within 24 hours, adding that the NIA would investigate all such cases.
The ruling Trinamool Congress criticized the move while the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party welcomed it.
“The NIA is in the business of national security and terrorism; the Election Commission of India must explain what national security and terrorism threat exists in West Bengal that requires the NIA,” asked TMC MP Sushmita Dev.
Debjit Sarkar, spokesperson for the BJP in West Bengal, said the state has faced organized electoral violence for the past 50 years. “The NIA has been brought in to curb all this,” he said.
