ECI orders security at Nabanna as BJP heads towards victory in Bengal
The Election Commission ordered deployment of Central forces at key West Bengal government offices, including Nabanna, amid trends showing the BJP heading towards victory in the Assembly polls. Officials said the move was aimed at protecting government documents during the counting process
Kolkata: As the West Bengal Assembly election results indicate a change of power with the BJP heading to victory, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has ordered the deployment of Central forces in government offices, including Nabanna, the current state secretariat.
This is being done to protect government documents, said officials on Monday.
CRPF teams were deployed at several government offices in the state in the afternoon to “protect government documents from being destroyed”, said officials. Quick Response Teams (QRT) were deployed at the state secretariat Nabanna, Writers’ Building, Bikash Bhavan, Jal Sampad Bhavan and Khadya Bhavan. The aim is to protect all government documents.
In this context, it is worth mentioning that while campaigning in the state, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that all files would be opened if the BJP comes to power. Keeping that in mind, it is believed that the initiative has been taken to protect all documents.
At the moment, Nabanna — located on Sarat Chatterjee Road, Mandirtala in Howrah — is the main administrative building of the state government, which houses the Chief Minister’s Office.
During the Left Front era, the Writers’ Building was the official secretariat building. It is speculated that the BJP may give importance to the Writers’ Building. For that purpose, plans have already been made to renovate these buildings.
However, proper protection of government documents is of utmost importance at the moment, as the BJP fears that some documents may be lost or misplaced. For this reason, QRT teams have been quickly sent to important government offices, said officials.
Central forces have been deployed around these offices for security reasons. The bags of state government employees are being checked, and surveillance is being kept to ensure that no file is moved outside the state secretariat by any employee.
It may be noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have repeatedly accused the Trinamool Congress government of corruption during campaigning in the state. They have repeatedly warned that all files will be opened if the BJP comes to power.
According to the ECI’s latest update, the BJP was leading in 189 seats and had won nine seats, while Trinamool was ahead in 88 seats and had won one seat. The counting of votes is still going on, with final results expected to be out later in the evening.
