Demonstrations by government employees and teachers engaged for Lok Sabha election duties for deployment of central forces at every polling booth in Bengal have left the ruling establishment in an uncomfortable situation as the protests raise questions on law and order in the state.
“Polling officials are mainly state government employees and teachers. If they demand posting of central forces at all voting centres, it is uncomfortable for the Bengal government as the protests betray the staff’s lack of confidence in state police as well as law and order,” said a senior Nabanna official.
The demand by the polling officials became a talking point in the administrative and political circles as Opposition parties, mainly the BJP, had demanded that all booths in Bengal be declared super sensitive and security arrangements be made accordingly. The BJP’s demand earned severe criticism from the ruling Trinamul which said Bengal had lower crime records than many other states.
“Now, if state government employees demand deployment of central forces, we face an awkward situation as we cannot launch an all out attack against the BJP on law and order issues,” said a Bengal minister.
The agitation had started a few days ago at Raiganj in North Dinajpur, where Rajkumar Roy, a presiding officer, had been found dead during panchayat polls last year. But the agitation spread across the state, including Calcutta, in the past few days.
The movement has left the ruling establishment in Bengal in a tight spot for two reasons.
First, the protests make it clear the government employees are not happy with the role of the state police during the polls. Second, the staff were apprehending malpractices during the Lok Sabha polls if supervised by the state police.
The Opposition parties alleged that the police had played a partisan role during the rural polls last year.
Sources said the trouble that had occurred during the panchayat polls last year perhaps made the situation complicated.
“It seems the employees lost confidence in the state police as they had faced a lot of problems in conducting panchayat elections last year. The government employees are agitating despite knowing that the ECI (Election Commission of India) might ask the state government to take disciplinary action against them,” said an official.
The demand by the polling officials apparently did not fall on deaf ears. The ECI has decided to send enough central forces for the first phase of the elections to be held in Alipurduar and Cooch Behar Parliamentary constituencies on April 11.
The decision was a shift from its earlier stance of holding the polls by deploying the state police at most booths.
“Initially, it was planned that about 40 companies of central forces would be deployed for the first phase of polls in Bengal. But now it appears more than 90 companies of central forces will be posted for the first phase. With the available forces, it seems the authorities will be able to deploy central forces on 90 per cent of the polling premises,” said an official.
Sources at Nabanna said the agitation could become a cause of concern for the Trinamul government in near future.
“If employees refuse to go to booths without deployment of central forces during municipality and panchayat elections, it will create a
problem as the state government is against posting of paramilitary personnel to conduct local polls,” said a bureaucrat.
Following the agitation across the state, the chief electoral officer of Bengal on Monday issued a statement assuring the polling officials that there would be adequate security arrangements at the voting stations under the direct supervision of the ECI to ensure their security.
