The state assembly's term ends on May 5. Before that, the state assembly elections must be completed by the last week of April. The final voter list of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is scheduled to be published on February 14. Even before that, the Election Commission (EC) has started preparations for the state assembly elections. On Monday in Delhi, the commission held a meeting with officials from the Union Home Ministry and West Bengal's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal regarding assembly election security. State police nodal officer Anand Kumar was also present at the meeting. Not just Bengal, assembly elections will also be held next year in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.
Also Read | How many Central forces in West Bengal polls? Election Commission to review deployment plan
Despite changing times, Bengal's elections have meant unrest and bloodshed for many long years. Not just on polling day, but post-election violence is also worrying the Election Commission. Therefore, the commission wants to create a blueprint to firmly control violence from the very beginning. According to some commission officials, earlier in the cow belt including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, casualties and violence during elections were normal occurrences.
Push for fewer phases and more forces
Now it has been possible to stop electoral violence there and transform it into a festival. However, this situation has not changed in Bengal yet. According to sources, for this reason, the state CEO has proposed increasing central forces and reducing phases for the upcoming assembly elections at today's meeting.
The 2021 state assembly elections were held in seven phases. The last Lok Sabha elections in Bengal were also held in seven phases. This time the CEO office wants to complete the elections in two to three phases. More central forces have also been requested for that, sources claim. However, everything will ultimately depend on how many forces and state police are available. According to sources, it emerged in today's meeting that state police can provide a maximum of 35,000 personnel for the elections.
Also Read | Abhishek Banerjee's helicopter faces permission hurdles, TMC alleges BJP conspiracy
To stop the proliferation of black money before and during elections, the commission is emphasizing coordination between various security agencies of the center and state using information technology as a tool and conducting checkpost inspections from the beginning. For this reason, mandatory webcasting surveillance during checkpost inspections has also been proposed. During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, liquor, drugs etc. worth ₹219 crores were recovered from West Bengal between March 1 and April 13. Of this, ₹13 crores in unaccounted cash was confiscated.
According to commission sources, the CEO presented a report on the state's security at the meeting. The report also mentioned how many central forces were deployed in past elections and how many state police forces are available. In the last Lok Sabha elections, 1,094 companies of central forces were deployed in West Bengal. In the last state assembly elections, more than 1,100 companies of central forces were available.
