State election commission not cooperating with Central Forces: BSF

By A Staff Reporter

As unprecedented violence engulfed the panchayat polls, a major controversy has erupted over the deployment of central forces in West Bengal after the state election commission released figures that many companies are yet to arrive. According to information released by BSF, the coordinating agency of the central police forces for West Bengal, 620 companies have been deployed in 22 districts by 10 AM on Saturday. ``The rest of the forces are all enroute,'' a senior officer said. The BSF officials claimed that additional director general eastern sector Sonali Mishra and coordinating Inspector general SC Budakoti have been writing letters constantly to the state election commissioner Rajeeva Sinha seeking logistical details of the deployment. ``The state election commissioner deliberating delayed replying to our letters. We wanted to know where to send the forces. We have to move men and material including vehicles, book train tickets, and all of it takes a little time. We have been constantly asking the state election commission but they did not cooperate,'' a senior BSF officer who is a part of the team told ANM News. Senior officers of the BSF and central police organisations mentioned that district police superintendents and local police officers were reluctant to put them on duty. Speaking exclusively to ANM News, the director general of BSF, Nitin Agarwal said 168 companies have been marked for deployment and 120 companies are already at ground zero. ``The local police have to make use of the forces,'' he added.