State police directorate proposes deploying 263 companies for 1st phas

About 177 companies have already been deployed in different parts of the state while another 100 companies are expected to reach the state by the end of this week

SOUMITRA NANDI, MP, 11 Apr 2024 : The state police directorate has proposed deploying 263 out of the 277 existing companies of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) to guard all 5814 polling stations, 4 strong rooms and manage the Quick Response Team (QRT) that will be involved in the first phase of polls on April 19. 

About 177 companies have already been deployed in different parts of the state while another 100 companies are expected to reach the state by the end of this week. The state police has proposed utilising its own force to manage other aspects of the security design across the three constituencies — Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri. 

State nodal officer for state police Anand Kumar in a letter to CEO (Chief Electoral Officer), Bengal Aariz Aftab has also recommended deploying the remaining 14 companies to the districts and commissionerates slated for the second phase of elections. 

This deployment plan suggests assigning one CAPF company per district and commissionerate to conduct area domination and confidence-building exercises, particularly in sensitive areas. 

The details submitted by Kumar have earmarked 75 companies for Jalpaiguri, 63 companies for Alipurduar and 112 companies for the Cooch Behar Parliamentary constituency. About 13 companies have been designated for the Siliguri commissionerate, considering the fact 14 out of the 47 wards within the commissionerate fall under the Jalpaiguri Parliamentary constituency and the rest under Darjeeling. 

“We have received the plan for the deployment of forces from the state Police department and we have sent it to the Election Commission of India, the special general observer and special police observer for their approval,” an official at the CEO office said. 

The CEO office however did not rule out the possibility of getting additional forces before the first phase which will allow it the liberty to use more Central Forces during the elections. 

The full bench of the ECI is slated to hold a virtual meeting on April 12 to finalise the security plan for the first phase where CEO Aariz Aftab, Special General Observer Alok Sinha, special police observer Anil Kumar Sharma, nodal officer for CAPF B K Sharma and Anand Kumar have been asked to be present. 

The state police also recommended sourcing more than 12,000 police personnel from the state, including 99 inspectors, 1327 sub-inspectors or assistant sub-inspectors and 10,875 constables and lady constables to manage other security aspects. 

The state police further recommended deploying half a section of Central Forces for polling premises housing one or two booths (totalling 4250 premises), one section for premises with three, four, or five booths (totalling 146 premises) and one-and-a-half sections for premises hosting more than five booths (totalling 6 premises). 

Additionally, the state has proposed allocating one section for the 4 strong rooms and one section each for the 74 QRTs operating across the three constituencies. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/state-police-directorate-proposes-deploying-263-companies-for-1st-phas-559455