EC directs MHA to deploy 100 more companies of CAPF in West Bengal to ensure free and fair elections

West Bengal Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to deploy 100 more companies of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) in West Bengal to conduct free and fair Lok Sabha elections.

Already, 55 companies of CRPF and 45 companies of Border Security forces are being deployed by the Home Ministry on the instruction of ECI.

Officials have been directed to complete the deployment of an extra 100 companies of CAPF in the state on or before the April 15, sources.

Violence in Bengal legacy of past, says Governor CV Ananda Bose 

Noting that law and order have not broken down in entire West Bengal, Governor CV Ananda Bose has said that violence in parts of the state cannot be entirely blamed on the present Trinamool Congress government as it could be due to "legacy of the past".

Bose, who has been at loggerheads with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over several issues, also said that their perceptions may differ but they maintain a "pleasant decorum".

Bose, who describes his ongoing stint in West Bengal as a "fact-finding and data-gathering time for him", further said that the law and order have not broken down in the entire state but claimed that goons control substantial areas.

"In Sandeshkhali, what I saw is that the women wanted peace with honour, but their honour was in pieces. That was the disquieting situation that mars the landscape in West Bengal. This is confined to certain pockets but the number is rising. That is the issue. Therefore I will not say that in entire West Bengal, the law and order has broken down but there are substantial areas where goons are in control," Bose said.

The Governor, however, did not attribute the entire violence in pockets of the state to the present Trinamool Congress government and said that it was a "legacy of the past".

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