The Election Commission has decided to appoint deputy commandants of central forces — instead of state police inspectors — to lead quick response teams (QRTs) in all eight Bengal Lok Sabha seats going to the polls on Sunday in the sixth phase of elections.
The move has drawn flak from Bengal officers and the ruling dispensation, which viewed it as an expression of lack of faith in the state police.
“Quick response teams will be headed by the deputy commandants of central forces. It is an improvement as the teams were (so far) being headed by senior state police officers,” Vivek Dubey, special central police observer, said after a meeting on Saturday in Purulia. The district votes on Sunday.
Asked about the role the state police would play after the change, Dubey said the force’s constables would facilitate vehicular traffic and movement of voters.
Each QRT has 10 members, almost all of them central force personnel. Till the second phase of polls, such teams were mostly made up of Bengal police.
“It is clear that the commission did not have any faith in us and, as a result, it is removing state police officers even from QRT duties,” said a Bengal police officer.
At a rally in Purulia on Thursday, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had questioned the deployment pattern of central forces across states. “How many central forces did you (the Election Commission) deploy in BJP-ruled Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar? Hundred per cent central forces were deployed in Bengal only. Why so much disrespect for Bengal? You don’t trust Bengal police but you trust Bihar police?” Mamata had asked.
According to Shantiram Mahato, state minister and Trinamul’s Purulia’s president, people would lose faith in Bengal police. “If the Centre doubts the neutrality of state police, we may have similar doubts about central forces.”
A senior police officer explained the change. “If an inspector of state police is the leader in a QRT, the central forces have to obey his directions.”
BJP leaders welcomed the decision, saying they had long demanded that central force officers should head the QRTs.
