BJP demands deployment of CAPF only in Bengal during LS polls

Kolkata: The BJP, in its representation to the full bench of the Election Commission (EC), on Monday demanded that only central armed police forces (CAPF) be deployed in West Bengal to ensure free and fair Lok Sabha polls in the state.

A three-member delegation of the party met EC officials here and said that area domination exercise and route march must be carried out based on central IB inputs.

The saffron party also demanded that the route march by CAPF personnel must be supervised by police observers, and not by the local police due to a "partisan role" of the West Bengal Police.

The saffron camp said that "only CAPF and no force from any other states be deployed" during the general elections, the date of which is yet to be announced.

Leaders of the state unit of BJP demanded that only CAPF personnel be deployed within 200 metres of polling booths.

There should be "no deployment of home guards, civic volunteers or green police even for monitoring queues in front of the polling stations," the party said.

"In case of any unrest or problem, only CAPF personnel should be asked to intervene," the party told the full bench of the Election Commission.

The EC bench led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar arrived in Kolkata on Sunday.

The BJP demanded that videography of all booths should be done by an agency hailing from outside West Bengal.

"Special observer and special police observer should be a former chief secretary rank official and ex-DG rank respectively," the party said in its representation to the EC.

The saffron party said that agents of political parties should be made to sit at the entrance and not inside the polling booths, and the poll panel should keep a check on duplication of voters' names.

The BJP also questioned the neutrality of the public servants in the state, which, according to the saffron camp, was displayed in the recent attacks on Enforcement Directorate officials at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas.

The saffron camp also claimed that 53 party men were killed within 45 days of the declaration of the results of the assembly polls in 2021.