The Election Commission of India has decided to deploy 89 companies of central forces for the bypolls in six Assembly constituencies in five Bengal districts on November 13.

Sources said the forces — 24 companies of the CRPF, 30 of the BSF, 12 of the CISF, 10 of the ITBP and 13 of the SSB — would cover 1,583 polling stations in the six constituencies, with an average of 5.6 personnel per booth. Additionally, five companies of the CRPF will be deployed to guard the strong rooms.

"The central forces are expected to arrive in the state by the 25th of this month to begin area domination. Polling booths will be managed by the Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPFs), while state police will handle external security," said a senior official in the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO)’s office.

CEO Aariz Aftab is likely to meet the CAPF nodal officer on Tuesday and requisition additional forces following demands from the BJP to exclude civic volunteers from the polling duty and rely solely on central forces for the purpose.

BJP leader Jagannath Chattopadhyay — who was in a three-member delegation of the party that met the CEO on Monday — said: “We want the by-elections to be conducted by the central forces. We asked the commission not to use civic volunteers in this election”.

The BJP delegation demanded the suspension of the beneficiary verification process for the 'Banglar Awaas Yojana,' initiated by the state government on October 21, calling it a violation of the model code of conduct in the five districts.

“Every verified beneficiary will receive ₹1.3 lakh from the Banglar Awaas Yojana for the construction of a pucca house. This is a gross violation of the model code of conduct. The commission should take immediate steps to stop this verification process because it is the basis of the project,” the BJP leader said.