100 CAPFs positioned in Bengal from today; 820 more companies to be relocated in phased manner

New Delhi [India], March 1 (ANI): Considering free, fair, and peaceful parliamentary elections in West Bengal, the Centre has deployed a total of 100 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in the first phase of deployment, with 820 additional companies scheduled to be relocated in the state gradually in separate phases, officials said.

The move comes days after the Election Commission sought the deployment of a maximum of 920 CAPF companies in West Bengal.

The 100 companies of CAPF deployed in West Bengal from Friday are part of the first phase of deployment for area dominance, confidence-building measures, and to ensure free, fair, and peaceful parliamentary elections in the state, they said.

As per officials privy to the development, the 100 CAPF companies consist of 20 from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), 50 from the Border Security Force (BSF), and 10 each from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP), and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

On March 7, the second phase of deployment will commence, involving the relocation of 50 additional CAPF companies to West Bengal.

Besides these 100 companies, a total of 3,300 additional companies (3.30 lakh personnel) of the CAPF are likely to be deployed during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as well as the assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim, officials said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) would take the decision to deploy the additional CAPF following consideration of a proposal sent by the Election Commission, which earlier sought deployment of around 3,400 companies (3.40 lakh personnel) of the paramilitary wings in all states and Union Territories in a phased manner to ensure conduct of free, fair and peaceful elections.

The EC had sent the proposal to the ministry following requests from the chief electoral officers of all the states and the UTs for the deployment of CAPFs for election related duties such as area dominance, confidence building measures, poll day-related duties, guarding of EVM and strong room centres and counting centre security during the forthcoming General Elections and the assembly elections in four states– Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim.

“The CAPFs will be distributed from the Centre and retained at different intervals,” officials indicated.

As per a proposal, the Election Commission has sought a maximum of 920 CAPF companies for West Bengal, followed by 635 in Jammu and Kashmir, which will witness its first Lok Sabha elections after scrapping Article 370 from the erstwhile state.

Besides, 360 companies of CAPF are sought for their deployment in Chhattisgarh during the polls; 295 in Bihar; 252 in Uttar Pradesh; 250 each in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Jharkhand; 200 each in Gujarat, Manipur, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu; 175 in Odisha; 160 each in Assam and Telangana; 150 in Maharashtra; 113 in Madhya Pradesh; 100 in Tripura; 95 in Haryana; 75 in Arunachal Pradesh; 70 each in Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Delhi; 66 in Kerala; 57 in Laddakh; 55 in Himachal Pradesh; 48 in Nagaland; 45 in Meghalaya; 17 in Sikkim; 15 in Mizoram; 14 in Dadra and Nagar Haveli; 12 in Goa; 11 in Chandigarh; 10 in Puducherry; five in Andaman and Nicobar; and three in Lakshadweep.

The MHA, however, would take further decisions based on the availability of CAPFs as sought by the election watchdog.

The Lok Sabha elections are expected in April-May for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has exuded confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party will win 370 seats alone and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will cross 400 seats.