Cooch Behar to have maximum CAPF cover in 1st phase of LS polls in Bengal

Kolkata: The Cooch Behar constituency will be having the maximum security cover of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel among the three Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal that are going to polls in the first phase on April 19.

Insiders from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal said that Cooch Behar will have a deployment of 112 companies of CPAF on the polling day.

Among the other two Lok Sabha constituencies in the state that will be going for polls on the same day, Jalpaiguri will have a deployment of 75 companies, while Alipurduar will have 63.

In addition to that, 13 companies of CAPF will be deployed in those pockets of Jalpaiguri seat which come under the jurisdiction of Siliguri Police Commiserate in the adjacent Darjeeling district.

Sources said that of the three Lok Sabha constituencies, Cooch Behar not only has the maximum number of sensitive booths but also has records of major poll-related violence.

As per the Election Commission records, 85 per cent of the polling booths in Cooch Behar district are sensitive.

In the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls too Sitalkuchi, one of the seven Assembly constituencies under this Lok Sabha, witnessed major poll-related clashes. The CAPF personnel deployed there had to resort to firing which killed four persons.

So far, a total of 277 companies of CPAF have already arrived in the state in two phases, the majority of which have been deployed in the three Lok Sabha constituencies, all in north Bengal, which are going for the polls in the first phase.

The remaining companies have been deployed in other super-sensitive pockets in the state which will go to polls in the subsequent phases. The CAPF personnel deployed in these other pockets are conducting regular route marches for area domination as well as to imbibe confidence among the voters.