The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to deploy 27 additional companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) in West Bengal ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024. The CAPF personnel will be deployed by April 1 for area domination, confidence-building measures and to ensure the conduct of free, fair, and peaceful polls, reported news agency ANI.
Earlier, 150 companies of CAPF were deployed in the state as advanced deployment measures.
In the wake of the Lok Sabha polls as well as elections to state assemblies in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim, a total of 3.40 lakh CAPF personnel are likely to be deployed, as per an ANI report.
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The MHA decided to deploy the CAPF after receiving a proposal from the Election Commission of India seeking the deployment of around 3,400 companies of the paramilitary wings in all states and Union Territories in a phased manner to ensure smooth conduct of free, fair, and peaceful elections.
The ECI sent the proposal after requests from the chief electoral officers from all the states and Union Territories for the deployment of paramilitary personnel for duties related to elections such as area dominance, confidence-building measures, poll day-related duties, guarding of EVMs and strong room centres and counting centre security during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and the assembly elections in four states.
According to the proposal, the poll body has sought a maximum of 920 companies of the CAPF in West Bengal, and 635 companies in Jammu and Kashmir which will conduct their first general elections since 2019 when Article 370 was struck down.
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The poll body also sought the deployment of 360 companies of the CAPF in Chhattisgarh, 295 in Bihar; 252 in Uttar Pradesh; 250 each in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, and Jharkhand; 200 each in Gujarat, Manipur, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu; 175 in Odisha; 160 each in Assam and Telangana.
Besides, the ECI has requested 150 CAPF companies in Maharashtra; 113 in Madhya Pradesh; 100 in Tripura; 95 in Haryana; 75 in Arunachal Pradesh; 70 each in Karnataka, Uttarakhand, and Delhi; 66 in Kerala; 57 in Laddakh; 55 in Himachal Pradesh; 48 in Nagaland; 45 in Meghalaya; 17 in Sikkim; 15 in Mizoram; 14 in Dadra and Nagar Haveli; 12 in Goa; 11 in Chandigarh; 10 in Puducherry; five in Andaman and Nicobar; and three in Lakshadweep.