The Central Armed Police Forces personnel deployed in West Bengal starting March 1 for the upcoming Assembly elections will have their vehicles equipped with GPS trackers. This measure aims to enable constant monitoring by the Election Commission of India-appointed central observers to ensure the effective utilization of the personnel from the outset. The initial phase will involve 240 companies of CAPF being deployed before the polling dates are announced and the model code of conduct is enforced.
To enforce the Election Commission’s directive of ensuring immediate and effective utilization of the CAPF personnel, the vehicles assigned to them will be installed with GPS trackers. This initiative will allow the central observers appointed by the ECI to monitor the movements of the personnel continuously. Additionally, the observers may provide daily reports on the utilization of CAPF to the Commission.
The same monitoring protocol will be applied to the 240 additional companies of CAPF scheduled for deployment in the second phase on March 10. In previous elections in West Bengal, there were complaints regarding the underutilization of CAPF personnel, including instances of personnel engaging in non-duty activities during polling days. Therefore, the Commission has decided to rigorously monitor the movements of CAPF personnel from the beginning to ensure their effective deployment throughout the election period.
The first phase of deployment on March 1 will include 110 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), 55 companies of Border Security Force (BSF), 21 companies of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), 27 companies of Indo-Tibetan Police Force (ITBP), and 27 companies of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). The subsequent phase on March 10 will witness the deployment of another 240 companies, comprising 120 from CRPF, 65 from BSF, 16 from CISF, 20 from ITBP, and 19 from SSB. The de-induction process of these 480 companies will be announced in due course as per the ECI’s notification.
