Kolkata, April 8 – The Ministry of Home Affairs informed the West Bengal government on Wednesday that, following the direction of the Election Commission of India (ECI), it has decided to deploy 150 companies of additional forces, including personnel from the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), India Reserve Battalion (IRB), and armed police wings from other states, in each of the two phases of the upcoming state assembly elections.
Earlier, on March 20, the ECI had stated that a total of 2,400 companies of forces, including those of CAPF, IRB, and armed police wings from other states, would be deployed in each of the two phases of the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal.
Now, with the new communication from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the total number of forces to be deployed for each of the two phases of state polls will be 2,550.
Of the 150 additional companies to be deployed, 95 will be from CAPF, and the remaining 55 companies will be from IRB and armed police wings from other states.
Of the 85 CAPF companies, 32 will be from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), 55 will be from the Border Security Force (BSF), six from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), and two from the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
The other parts of the earlier order from the ECI on March 20 will remain constant.
According to the ECI's previous order, after the polling ends in the second phase on April 29, 200 companies of CAPF will remain in the poll-bound state for security of electronic voting machines (EVMs), strong rooms and counting centres until the counting of votes is completed.
In addition, 500 companies of CAPF will continue to be deployed until further orders for law and order duties and to prevent post-poll violence, which was rampant after the 2021 Assembly polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The remaining 1,700 companies of CAPF, IRB and state armed police will be de-inducted after polling concludes on April 29.
The movement and deployment of CAPFs will be coordinated by the CRPF.
Inspector General CRPF (West Bengal Sector), Shalabh Mathur, has been nominated as "State Force Coordinator" for the state elections.