Questioning how an opposition party could have asked for the deployment of Central forces in West Bengal, senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Rabin Deb wondered how only three companies of CRPF would suffice in the State.
“Ideally, the State government has to ask for Central forces from the State Election Commission. But here, the State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party had to speak to the Union Home Minister for the deployment of CRPF,” Mr. Deb said here on Tuesday.
Stating that there were more than 4,000 polling booths in the city and over 13,000 across the State, Mr. Deb said only three companies of CRPF would not suffice.
“During the panchayat polls [in 2013], the State government demanded Central forces in sensitive booths for about 21 lakh voters. Now when the total number of voters is more than a crore, the State government is not interested in deploying CRPF,” he said.
Alleging that the ruling Trinamool Congress was unleashing terror on all opposition parties, Mr. Deb said the TMC was attacking Left Front candidates and supporters in wards where the Left had won in the 2010 civic polls.
