Special additional, nodal officer to ensure coordination for CAPF personnel in Bengal on polling days

KOLKATA — A special, additional nodal officer will be appointed for effective coordination and movement of central armed police force (CAPF) personnel on polling days for the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal, election officials said.

Insiders from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal said that the decision for appointing this special and additional nodal officer has been conveyed to the CEO office from the Election Commission of India.

“The special, additional nodal officer will have a two-tier responsibility on the polling days for the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls in the state. The first will be maintaining a between the control rooms of the offices of CEO, state nodal officer for police, and the CAPF coordinator in West Bengal,” an official said.

The second assignment is to give hourly updates of the poll proceedings to the control room in the office of the CEO, Kolkata on the polling days.

“The CEO’s office, in due course, will update the ECI office in Kolkata based on the hourly inputs provided by the special, additional nodal officer,” said the official.

The ECI had been especially vigilant about West Bengal considering the state’s past records of poll-related violence during the three-tier panchayat polls last year that left 50 dead. It has been decided that there will be a total allotment of 920 companies of CAPF for West Bengal, a figure which is the highest among all states and UTs, including Jammu & Kashmir.

“Already 277 companies of CAPF have been deployed in West Bengal for the first phase of polls on April 19 for the three Lok Sabha constituencies, namely Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar. Another 25 companies are expected by this week,” the official said.