The Election Commission (EC) has requested the deployment of 340,000 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) personnel in stages for the forthcoming Lok Sabha election and Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim.
The poll panel has also sought adequate rolling stocks with all appropriate facilities in the trains, thereby ensuring hassle-free mobilisation and a timely movement of the forces to perform election duties.
In a communication to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the EC has said the chief electoral officers of all the states and Union territories have requested for the deployment of CAPFs for poll-related duties, such as area domination, confidence-building measures, poll day-related duties, guarding of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and strong room centres, counting centre security etc. during the elections.
The commission has considered the requests made by the state CEOs and decided to deploy a maximum of around 3,400 companies of CAPFs in all states and Union territories in phases to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections, the communication said.
A CAPF company comprises around 100 personnel. A maximum of 920 companies of CAPFs are expected to be deployed in West Bengal in a phased manner, followed by 635 companies in Jammu and Kashmir, 360 companies in Chhattisgarh, 295 companies in Bihar, 252 companies in Uttar Pradesh and 250 companies each in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Punjab.
The CAPFs are the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and National Security Guard (NSG).
The combined strength of all the CAPFs is around 10 lakh. The other states where a sizeable number of CAPF personnel are likely to be deployed are — 200 companies each in Gujarat, Manipur, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, 175 companies in Odisha, 160 companies each in Assam and Telangana, 150 in Maharashtra, 113 in Madhya Pradesh and 100 in Tripura.
