Most of 61,000-odd polling booths across Bengal were guarded by a single armed constable of state police.

It was tough to find paramilitary personnel at booths and on roads in Birbhum district on Saturday. A rough estimate suggests merely 10 per cent of the total booths were covered by Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) in Bengal.

The Telegraph visited one polling premise with two booths guarded by central forces and tried to take a closer look at their activities.

Mirzapur Lilabati Primary School had two booths — 40 and 41 — of Raipur Supur gram panchayat in Bolpur. They are among 228 sensitive booths in the district where four paramilitary personnel were deployed.

Among the four, one was trying to disperse the crowd outside the polling station, while another was guarding the main entrance to the school. The armed personnel at the gate was checking voters’ identity cards and every person entering the polling premises. Two others were deployed outside polling rooms and ensured that only one person could enter the booth at a time.

Around 11am, a group of local youth assembled near the booth. One of the armed jawans asked them to leave if they did not come to cast their vote.

A presiding officer said there was no disturbance from outside and the voting had been conducted peacefully in the presence of election agents of three major political parties. Apart from the central forces, there was an armed police constable and a civic volunteer on the polling premise.