WB panchayat polls: Centre to deploy additional CAPF, SAPF battalions
What's the story
The Home Ministry has decided to deploy an additional 315 coys of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), India Reserve (IR), and State Armed Police Forces (SAPF) battalions for the upcoming Panchayat general elections in West Bengal following reports of violence across the state.
The panchayat elections will be held in a single phase on July 8, with vote counting scheduled for July 11.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Earlier, only 22 coys were approved on the requisition of the State Election Commission (SEC).
However, the Calcutta High Court directed the SEC on Wednesday to requisition over 82,000 central forces personnel in the next 24 hours.
It emphasized that the number of districts has grown from 17 in 2013 to 22 at present, and the electorate has also increased over the past decade.
Details
Details on plea filed at Calcutta HC
While hearing a contempt plea on Wednesday, a Calcutta High Court division bench led by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam pulled up the State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha and stated that if it's too difficult for him to take orders, he should step down.
Notably, Sinha is the former chief secretary of West Bengal and was appointed as the state election commissioner earlier this month.
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HC bench urges SEC to buckle up
According to the news agency PTI, the court added that the SEC is a neutral entity and does not need to toe the line of anybody.
Furthermore, the high court bench said that it was really unfortunate to see that no responsible officer of the poll body was present in the court since the hearings started in the matter.
Further information
Here's what HC earlier said to SEC
Last Tuesday, the high court directed the poll body to request central forces for deployment in the districts it identified as sensitive and to analyze the situation and deploy them accordingly in other poll-bound districts.
Expressing unhappiness regarding the delay in complying with the earlier order, the court directed the deployment of central forces in all districts last Friday.
Bombs
Over 100 bombs recovered amid panchayat poll violence
Since nominations for panchayat elections began on June 9, six people have been killed in violent conflicts.
Violence was recorded in Cooch Behar, the North and South 24 Paraganas, Murshidabad, Birbhum, East Midnapore, and East Burdwan, among other areas.
On Thursday, around 65 bombs were recovered from a jute field in the state's Malda district. Another 30 bombs were recovered from Murshidabad.
More details
9.5% of West Bengal panchayat seats uncontested: Report
As per the news outlet Hindustan Times, the latest nomination data for the panchayat polls indicates that approximately 9.5% of the state's 73,887 panchayat seats have been won uncontested by different parties.
In contrast, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) bagged nearly 90% of seats in the last round of rural pulls in 2018, out of which 34% were uncontested.