The State Election Commission (SEC) on Tuesday published the details of the deployment of 315 companies of central forces for the July 8 rural polls amid questions on whether they were posted in 22 districts keeping in mind the ground situation in different parts of Bengal.
The SEC said 26 companies would be deployed in Murshidabad district, followed by 24 in Bankura, 22 in North 24-Parganas and 20 each in Purulia and East Burdwan.
For districts like Birbhum, Cooch Behar, North Dinajpur and South 24-Parganas, which have a history of violence during polls, the number of the deployed companies ranged from nine to 19.
One company of central force has 100-110 armed personnel.
“The deployment was done on the basis of ground reports received from districts and in consultation with the state government,” said a source on the poll panel.
The Opposition parties and a section of administrative and police officers said the distribution of the central forces seemed “arbitrary”.
“The commission has deployed 22 companies of central forces in a big district like North 24-Parganas. Bankura has also received 24 companies. We can’t understand the basis on which the commission has deployed the central forces as the mapping of vulnerable booths is yet to be done,” said a senior official, who was involved in the 2013 and 2018 panchayat elections.
According to the officer, while the decision to post the maximum number of companies in Murshidabad is right, there is no logic in sending over 20 companies to districts like Bankura and Purulia, which do not have a history of violent elections.
The quantum of security arrangement for each district is based on the number of vulnerable polling stations and pockets. The mapping of vulnerable areas is conducted based on at least nine criteria, including the history of violence, rigging and a high percentage (above 90 per cent) of polling in the past elections.
The SEC had sent a letter on June 24 to all district magistrates and district election officials, asking them to map the vulnerability of the polling stations and the catchment areas. Officials in multiple districts said they were yet to finish the task of mapping vulnerable pockets.
“There are at least nine criteria on which we map the vulnerable booths and that is why it takes some time,” said an official in Bankura.
Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition, said: “This allotment has been done by the 14th floor of Nabanna. It is the list prepared by I-PAC and the Trinamul office on Camac Street. We don’t believe in this allotment. The commissioner is functioning on instructions of Mamata Banerjee. We will request the court to instruct the election commission to deploy central forces at every booth.”
CPM central committee member Shamik Lahiri said: “It is so strange that they have decided on the deployment without even getting the vulnerability reports.... This means it has been done in an arbitrary manner and the election commission is working under instructions of Trinamul.”
He said the ruling party wanted to rig the polls and that was why there was such a faulty distribution of central troops.
The SEC, following the intervention of courts, sought 822 companies of central forces for the rural polls, but the Union home ministry has till now allotted 337 companies in two phases.
Out of the forces that the state had got from the Centre, 22 companies had already been deployed in each district. A source said the additional 315 companies have started reaching the respective districts. “The home ministry is yet to reply to multiple letters from the commission, asking for the remaining 485 companies of central forces,” said the source on the poll panel.
