Deploy Only CAPF Troops During LS Elections In Bengal: BJP's Demand To Poll Panel

A three-member delegation of the BJP demanded that only CAPF be deployed during Lok Sabha elections in Bengal.

BJP has demanded that only CAPF be deployed during Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal/Representational Image

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The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday demanded from the Election Commission of India that only the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) be deployed in West Bengal during the Lok Sabha polls to ensure free and fair polls in the state. 

A three-member delegation of the party made the demand in its representation to the full bench of the Election Commission in Kolkata on Monday, as per a PTI report.  

The party said that area domination exercise and route march must be carried out based on the Centre's Intelligence Bureau's inputs. 

The BJP also demanded that the route march by CAPF personnel must be supervised by police observers and not the local police due to a "partisan role" of the state police. 

Only CAPF and no force from any other states be deployed" during the general elections, the saffron camp said. 

Party leaders also demanded that only CAPF personnel be deployed within 200 metres of polling booths. 

The delegation said that there should be no deployment of home guards, civic volunteers, or green police even for monitoring queues in front of the polling stations."

"In case of any unrest or problem, only CAPF personnel should be asked to intervene," the party told the full bench of the Election Commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar. 

For the videography of the polling booths, the BJP demanded that it should be done by an agency hailing from outside West Bengal.

"Special observer and special police observer should be a former chief secretary rank official and ex-DG rank respectively," the party added. 

It also said that the agents of the political parties should be made to sit at the entrance and not inside the polling booths, adding that the Commission should keep a check on the duplication of voters' names. 

Referring to the recent attacks on the officials of the Enforcement Directorate at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas, the BJP questioned the neutrality of the public servants in the state.