2,500 CAPF companies needed if Bengal polls are held in single phase: ECI

The Election Commission of India estimates 2,500 CAPF companies may be needed for a single-phase West Bengal Assembly poll. Final decision on phases depends on feasibility, balancing security deployment with preventing voter intimidation and reducing multi-phase election complexity

Kolkata: Around 2500 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) will be needed if the Bengal Assembly polls are held in single phase, according to initial estimate by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The proposal for a single- phase poll had gone to the ECI’s headquarters in New Delhi from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, in Kolkata, though the latter had maintained that the final decision in this matter would be taken by the Commission.

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“Based on the recommendation for a single-phase poll, the Commission made an initial calculation for the CAPF requirement in case of that eventuality and had estimated that 2,500 companies would be required in case of a single-phase. Now, the Commission might take up the matter with the Union Minister of Home Affairs on whether those 2,500 companies of CAPF could be arranged or not, and based on the outcome, the number of phases would be decided,” said source in the Commission.

However, he added, that even if a single-phase poll is not possible, the number of phases this time would be much less than the last few polls in West Bengal, which were either seven-phase or eight-phase polls.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which were the last major election in the state, there was eight-phase polling, and then, 1,099 companies of CAPF were deployed. In the 2011 West Bengal assembly elections, there was again a two-phase polling, and then 725 companies of CAPF were deployed.

The last time there was single-phase polling in West Bengal was in the 2001 state Assembly elections. The eventuality of a single-phase poll in West Bengal will have both its advantages and disadvantages.

“The advantage is that political parties will not be able to mobilise their supporters from one pocket to another and thus address the traditional complaint of outsider mobilization on the polling day or the day before that, intimidating the voters,” sources in the CEO’s office said.

However, that single-phase would require a larger deployment of CAPF, especially on the polling day. “If the Commission can ensure that arrangement, the idea of a single-phase is quite feasible,” sources in the CEO’s office said.