Kolkata, March 2 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) has given details of the advance deployment of the 480 companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) in two phases in West Bengal before the announcement of the polling dates for the Assembly election.

Of these 480 companies, 240 companies have already been deployed on March 1, and the remaining 240 companies will be deployed on March 10.

The maximum deployment will be in the North 24 Parganas district at 58, followed by 35 in Murshidabad, 33 in South 24 Parganas, 30 in Kolkata, and 28 in East Midnapore.

Of these five districts, the maximum deployment of advanced CAPF is in North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, and South 24 Parganas, which are Bangladesh-bordering districts, and Murshidabad is minority-dominated. On the other hand, East Midnapore is the native district of the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari.

While 27 companies will be deployed in Hooghly district, the figures for East Burdwan and Nadia will be 25 and 22 companies, respectively.

While Howrah and Birbhum will have 21 companies each, 20 companies have been allotted for Purulia and West Midnapore districts. The figures for North Dinajpur, Malda, West Burdwan, Darjeeling, and Cooch Behar will be 19,18, 17, 16, and 15, respectively.

While 13 companies will be allotted to Bankura, Jhargram will have 11 companies. Ten companies each will be deployed in South Dinajpur and Jalpaiguri districts; the minimum deployments will be in Alipurduar at seven and Kalimpong at just four companies.

As per the instructions of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, each company will have a minimum of 72 personnel. The deployment of forces includes personnel from all five CAPFs, namely Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

The maximum deployment will be from the CRPF and BSF. The movement and deployment of CAPFs will be coordinated by the CRPF, the ECI has clarified.

Political observers feel that it is quite unprecedented that such a huge advance deployment is being made in the state even before the announcement of the polling dates and the enforcement of the model code of conduct.

–IANS

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