920 CAPF companies to be deployed in Bengal for LS polls
According to officials cited by news agency PTI, Bengal will see up to 920 companies of central paramilitary forces deployed for the Lok Sabha elections, due in a few months’ time, while Jammu and Kashmir will have 635 companies.
Bengal will see the highest deployment. During the 2019 general election, 720 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) were deployed in the state.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) earlier today requested the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for the phased deployment of CAPFs during the Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim, which would be held simultaneously.
The top two highest force deployments will be in Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir, followed by Chhattisgarh (360 companies), Bihar (295), Uttar Pradesh (252), Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Punjab (250 each), Gujarat, Manipur, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu (200 each), Odisha (175), Assam and Telangana (160 each), Maharashtra (150), Madhya Pradesh (113) and Tripura (100).
Jammu and Kashmir, now a Union territory, has historically been a volatile region, where political ambitions clash with security concerns. It remains a prime target for militant groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which are sponsored by Pakistan.
Taking these factors into account, to ensure peaceful elections, the ECI has sanctioned the largest ever deployment of security forces there during a general election.
