KOLKATA: Three days after the State Election Commission (SEC) issued a notification not mentioning whether central forces will be deployed in polling booths, the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the state poll panel to deploy Central Armed Paramilitary Force (CAPF) personnel alongside their counterparts from the state in equal measure in each and every polling station during the upcoming rural polls on July 8.
During the course of the hearing, deputy solicitor general Billwadal Bhattacharya mentioned in his petition that there will be nearly 65,000 active personnel from the central forces while the strength of the state police force will be about 70,000 and hence deployment in a ratio of fifty-fifty will solve the issue.
The division bench of Chief Justice TS Shivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya upheld Bhattacharya’s submission.
The directive was passed by the division bench after the SEC prayed to pass an appropriate order on the formula for central and state forces deployment based on the total number of available forces with the poll panel.
The opposition had demanded deployment of central force personnel in all 61,636 booths and welcomed the high court’s order.
Meanwhile, although 14 persons had died in the past 26 days in poll-related violence since the announcement of panchayat elections in Bengal, the West Bengal police chief said on Tuesday that there were “two to three” incidents of violence in the state and police took stern action in every case.
“There were two or three incidents of violence in Bengal related to panchayat polls. We have instructions from higher authorities to swing into action and take stern action immediately after incidents of violence and police acted accordingly,” said Director General of Police (DGP) Manoj Malviya.
In the past 24 hours, incidents of violence were reported from nine places in the state. Four persons, including two children, were injured after a crude bomb exploded in Murshidabad district. Clashes between supporters of two political parties took place in Asansol in West Burdwan district.
Referring to the DGP’s comment mentioning “two to three” incidents of violence, the spokesperson of the BJP, the principal opposition in the state, Shamik Bhattacharya alleged that police and the state poll panel are working at the behest of the ruling party. “The entire state is witnessing violence unleashed by the ruling party and men in uniform are sitting idle. Despite the deaths of several persons, police are describing the violence as a case of two to three incidents,” he said.