EC to MHA: Provide 3,400 companies of CAPFs for elections

In a communication to the MHA on February 13, Secretary Ajay Kumar Verma also sought from the Chairman of Railway Board for adequate rolling stocks with all appropriate facilities in the trains, thereby ensuring mobilisation and movement of forces to perform election duties.

By: Express News Service
New Delhi | Updated: February 15, 2024 01:40 AM IST

2 min read

Election Commission, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim, Assembly elections, Indian express news, current affairs

The CAPFs are the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and National Security Guard (NSG).

To ensure free, fair, and peaceful elections, the EC has asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to provide 3,400 companies of CAPFs, which is 3.4 lakh paramilitary personnel for deployment in a phased manner during the Lok Sabha elections and Assembly polls in Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim.

In a communication to the MHA on February 13, Secretary Ajay Kumar Verma also sought from the Chairman of Railway Board for adequate rolling stocks with all appropriate facilities in the trains, thereby ensuring mobilisation and movement of forces to perform election duties.

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“The chief electoral officers of all states and UTs have requested for deployment of CAPFs for poll-related duties… The commission has considered the requests made by the state CEOs and decided to deploy a maximum of around 3,400 companies of CAPFs in all states and UTs in phases to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections,” Verma said in his letter.

In a communication, it was also informed that a maximum of 920 companies of CAPFs are expected to be deployed in West Bengal in a phased manner, followed by 635 companies in J&K, 360 companies in Chhattisgarh, 295 companies in Bihar, 252 companies in Uttar Pradesh, and 250 companies each in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Punjab.

“The other states where a sizeable number of CAPF personnel are likely to be deployed are: 200 companies each in Gujarat, Manipur, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu; 175 companies in Odisha; 160 companies each in Assam and Telangana; 150 in Maharashtra; 113 in Madhya Pradesh; and 100 in Tripura,” Verma said.

However, the EC said various issues were raised by MHA and CAPFs pertaining to inconvenience to the forces during their mobilisation in polls in 2022 and 2023. “The railway ministry has already been requested to address the concerns so as to avoid a recurrence of such incidents,” it said.