Kolkata (West Bengal): After much deliberations, legal battles and administrative hiccups, the state election commission, under the pressure of Calcutta High Court, has requisitioned 822 companies of central forces from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to man more than 62000 booths in the forthcoming panchayat polls in the state. This is the highest ever central forces to be deployed in a panchayat polls after 2013 when 825 companies were deployed in the rural polls.
Interestingly enough the commission that had earlier sought for 22 companies of central forces had to reverse its decision after Calcutta High Court termed the initial request for forces as "thoroughly inadequate," and instructed the state election commission to requisition more than 82,000 personnel from central forces within a span of 24 hours.
The division bench, led by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam, expressed dissatisfaction with the commission's decision to deploy only 22 companies and even suggested that the State Election Commissioner, Rajiva Sinha, that ‘“if it is difficult for him to take orders, he can step down”.
The high court justified its directive by citing the increasing number of districts and voters in the state. It emphasized the need for a substantial deployment of central forces to maintain law and order during the elections. In the previous panchayat election held in 2013, which took place over five phases, the West Bengal government had to deploy 825 companies of central forces following an intervention by the then State Election Commissioner, Mira Pandey, who approached the Supreme Court for assistance.
The recent observation by the Kolkata High Court comes in the wake of the Supreme Court's refusal to interfere with the high court's order regarding the deployment of central forces in the panchayat elections. In response to this, the West Bengal state election commission requested the central government to send 22 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) to cover the entire state. The state government argued that the deployment of 22 companies of CAPF was based on the 22 districts in West Bengal, with each company consisting of 80 personnel. Coincidentally, the 22 districts are estimated to have over 62,000 polling booths.
