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Journalism of Courage
Nine days after the Calcutta High Court ordered the deployment of 822 companies of central forces for the West Bengal panchayat elections, on a plea moved by the BJP along with the Congress, the Centre has been able to provide only 339 companies so far.
The campaigning for the polls, to be held in a single phase on July 8, has begun. Since the notification of the elections, there has been continuous violence, with 11 dead so far.
At the receiving end of Opposition criticism in the state, State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha has said there is no clarity on when the rest of the 485 companies of central forces will come. Meanwhile, with only 339 companies, the State Election Commission (SEC) is yet to indicate how it plans to use them — for only route marches or in booths as well.
In its order on Central forces, the High Court had said: “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 / Battalions which are to be requisitioned shall not be less than the forces which were requisitioned for the 2013 elections… 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….”
The order had also said that “such deployment of forces from other states to be in place on the date of polling will not yield the desired result”.
Accordingly, the SEC had sought 822 companies of central forces.
In 2013, more than 800 companies had been deployed, but this was in phases, as the panchayat elections were held in several phases. In 2018, there was no central force deployment, and the elections were marked by widespread violence.
In its initial reply, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs said it could send 315 companies of Central forces immediately, but needed to know where and how many would be deployed.
“We have sent multiple reminders to the MHA for the rest 485 companies of Central forces. However, we did not get any intimation from them. We have sent the plan for deployment of 315 companies to the Centre,” Sinha said.
Sources in the SEC said that as per the deployment plan of 315 companies shared with the Centre, the highest number would be stationed in Murshidabad district (26 companies), and the lowest in Kalimpong (4 companies). In Bankura, Purulia, North 24 Parganas and Purba Bardhaman, over 20 companies will be deployed in each district.
With no word yet on whether the other central forces will arrive and when, there is some chatter now on if the SEC would revise the polling schedule to have more phases. On Thursday, Governor C V Ananda Bose, who has passed several strictures against the Trinamool Congress government over the elections, said: “What the High Court ordered, the SEC should follow that.”
TMC leader Joyprakash Majumder said, “The High Court ordered the SEC to apply for central forces. Accordingly, the SEC did that. The funny thing is that the BJP is the proponent of central forces, and the BJP-led Central government has not been able to arrange them. We don’t know whether they don’t want to bear this cost or there is a shortage of Central forces.”
BJP leader Rahul Sinha said, “The SEC has no intention to conduct elections in a free and fair manner. If it had, it would have consulted the Central government. It could have also divided the election in multiple phases, but it did not do so.”
