3.4 lakh CAPF personnel along with state forces to be deployed

A maximum of 92,000 CAPF troops are likely to be deployed in politically volatile West Bengal, where elections will be held in all seven phases, followed by 63,500 troops in militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir, where elections will be held. in five phases

PTI, New Delhi, Feb 14, 2024 : he Election Commission of India (ECI) is expected to deploy 3.4 lakh Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel along with state police forces in the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections in four states as of April 19, officials said.

A maximum of 92,000 CAPF troops are likely to be deployed in politically volatile West Bengal, where elections will be held in all seven phases, followed by 63,500 troops in militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir, where elections will be held. in five phases. As many as 36,000 troops will be deployed in Naxal-affected Chhattisgarh, where elections will be held in three phases.

The ECI has considered the requests of state CEOs and decided to deploy a maximum of around 3,400 CAPF companies across all states and Union Territories in a phased manner to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections, an official aware of the matter said. development. .

A maximum of 920 CAPF companies are expected to be gradually deployed in West Bengal, followed by 635 companies in Jammu and Kashmir, 360 companies in Chhattisgarh, 295 companies in Bihar, 252 companies in Uttar Pradesh and 250 companies each in Andhra. Pradesh, Jharkhand and Punjab, the official said. A CAPF company has around 100 people.

The CAPFs are Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the National Security Guard (NSG). The combined strength of all CAPFs is around 10 lakh.

All force mobilization will be completed in the next few days.

Assembly elections will also be held in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim coinciding with the Lok Sabha elections.

In other states where a considerable number of CAPFs are expected to be deployed are: 200 companies each in Gujarat, Manipur, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, 175 companies in Odisha, 160 companies each in Assam and Telangana, 150 in Maharashtra, 113 in Madhya Pradesh. , 100 in Tripura among others.

The forces to be deployed in West Bengal, left-wing extremism (LWE) affected areas and Jammu and Kashmir have already reached their respective destinations.

Under the plan, around 2,000 companies were mobilized as part of pre-poll deployment in sensitive and hyper-sensitive constituencies starting March 1. Around 1.5 lakh personnel will be deployed on roads and railways as part of this mobilization, another official said.

The Railways have also made available adequate rolling stock with all appropriate facilities in the trains, thus ensuring hassle-free and timely movement of forces for the performance of electoral tasks.

Officials said CAPF personnel are being deployed for election-related tasks such as area domination, confidence building measures, polling day related tasks, monitoring of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and strong room centers, security of counting centers, etc. the elections.