MHA ready to deploy 337 companies of central forces for West Bengal panchayat polls

The high court said in its order, “The State Election Commission shall within 24 hours requisition sufficient number of central forces to be deployed to all the districts and the number of companies/battalion which are to be requisitioned shall be not less than the forces which was requisitioned for the 2013 election and it has to be definitely more than the same as the number of districts have increased and the electorate would have definitely increased between 2013 and 2023 , in these ten years.”

The court also said that the deployment of forces from other states “to be in place on the date of polling will not yield the desired result”.

“Therefore, de hors the number of police forces which may have been requisitioned from other states, the State Election Commission shall independently assess the requirement and as observed earlier the assessment should be honest and bearing in mind that the State Election Commission has constitutional obligation to ensure free and fair election and to preserve the purity of the entire election process,” the court had said.

The court on Wednesday said that the next hearing would be held on Friday.

West Bengal has witnessed a series of violent incidents ever since the panchayat polls were announced on June 9. The elections will be held on July 8 in a single phase across the state.