Bengal bypolls: CAPF deployment to start from October 25

Kolkata, Oct 19 (IANS) The deployment of central armed police forces (CAPF) personnel for the November 13 bypolls for six Assembly constituencies in West Bengal will start from October 25, official sources said.

To begin with, a total of 89 companies of CAPF will be deployed by October 25, CEO office sources said.

These will include 24 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), 30 companies of the Border Security Force (BSF), 12 companies of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), and 13 companies of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), sources said.

CEO office insiders that as per initial calculations, a total of 120 companies will be required to ensure adequate deployment of CAPFs in all the polling booths in these six constituencies.

"The early deployment of 89 companies of CAPF at these six assembly constituencies by October 25 will be done to ensure complete area domination before the polling date," a source said.

Polling for the six Assembly constituencies in the state is scheduled on November 13, along with bypolls to one Lok Sabha seat and 41 other Assembly seats across several states and the first phase of the Jharkhand Assembly polls, and the counting is scheduled on November 23.

The six Assembly constituencies have a total of 1,583 polling booths, out of which the maximum is at Medinipur in West Midnapore district at 304, followed by 300 at Sitai in Cooch Behar district, 279 at Haroa in North 24 Parganas district, 264 at Taldangra in Bankura district, 226 at Madarihat in Alipurduar district, and 210 at Naihati in North 24 Parganas district.

CEO office insiders said that the commission also intends to cover all the booths under webcasting as done in the Parliamentary polls this year. All these six constituencies fell vacant as the sitting MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. Barring Madarihat, which was with the BJP, the Trinamool Congress had won the remaining five in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls.

The bypolls are extremely crucial for both the Trinamool and the BJP, considering that they will be conducted against the backdrop of the boiling situation in West Bengal amid the ghastly rape and murder of a woman junior doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata within the hospital premises in August this year.