200 more CAPF companies to reach Bengal – Times of India

Kolkata: Another 200 companies of central armed police forces (CAPF) will troop to Bengal from Assam, taking the security strength in this state to 1,000 CAPF companies ahead of the fourth phase on April 10. Of the 200 companies, Cooch Behar will get 111 and the rest will be deployed in Alipurduar.
ADG (law and order) Jag Mohan, in a letter to district police chiefs on Saturday, said of the total 1,000 companies, 793 will be on poll duty and also guard strongrooms for the fourth phase. They will be aided by 16,000 state police personnel.
Special observers are learnt to be apprehensive about April 10, when polling will be held in 44 seats across Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Howrah, Hooghly and South 24 Parganas, which includes parts of Kolkata.
For the city’s six assembly seats — Metiabruz, Kasba, Jadavpur, Tollygunje, Behala East and Behala West in Kolkata Police area — there will be 101 companies. Since Cooch Behar has witnessed violence in the recent past, the CAPF allocation is highest at 188 companies for the nine assembly seats in the district. Alipurduar will see 99 companies for five seats.
A few days ago, the Trinamool Congress had complained about deployment of state police personnel from BJP-ruled UP and MP. They are currently manning South 24 Parganas for the third phase on April 6. Now, 12 SAP companies from Bihar and another 12 from Jharkhand will be deployed in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar. State armed police from Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland will also be deployed in these two districts.
Fifty companies have been allotted for guarding EVMs for phases one, two and three, along with maintaining law and order in districts during the first three phases of polling.
Howrah police commissionerate, where polling will be held in six seats on April 10, is another area of concern for the EC. Hence, 103 companies are being allotted. For five seats in Hooghly (rural police area), 91 companies will be on duty. The entire deployment process will be over by April 7.