Election Commission of India hints at central armed paramilitary forces at all booths on April 19

 Hint came from commission’s special police observer Anil Kumar Sharma and special general observer Alok Sinha at meeting held at BSF Guest House on Ballygunj Circular Road in Calcutta

Workers carry Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines during a training programme for polling officials at Bolpur on Saturday

PTI picture

Pranesh Sarkar, TT,  Calcutta,  07.04.24 : Two observers of the Election Commission of India on Friday hinted that all 5,814 booths in three Lok Sabha constituencies that would go to the polls on April 19 would be manned by central armed paramilitary forces (CAPF), sources said.

The hint came from the commission’s special police observer Anil Kumar Sharma and special general observer Alok Sinha at a meeting held at the BSF Guest House on Ballygunj Circular Road in Calcutta.

The chief electoral officer (CEO), Aariz Aftab, convened the meeting where the nodal officers of state police and the CAPF were also present.

“The special observers pointed out that the MHA (ministry of home affairs) was likely to send another 100 companies of central forces by next week.… With the additional forces, all booths that would go to the polls on April 19 could be guarded by the central force jawans,” said a source.

Elections will be held in the Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar Lok Sabha constituencies on April 19.

The officials responsible for making arrangements for the Lok Sabha elections were not sure till Friday whether the MHA would send enough CAPF to guard all the booths in the first phase.

But the situation took a sharp turn as state BJP leaders started mounting pressure on Delhi, saying the deployment of CAPF was necessary if the party wanted to put up a good show in Bengal.

“The leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, took the initiative to ensure that central forces guard all booths in Bengal. The party believes police will have a bias for the Trinamul Congress in the state,” said a BJP leader in Bengal.