Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that central forces will remain in West Bengal for 60 more days after assembly polls. Shah made the statement at a rally in West Bengal's Behala, where voting will take place on April 29, the last leg of the assembly elections in the state.
The Election Commission has deployed 500 CAPF companies across West Bengal for post-poll law and order duties, which will stay "till further orders." Each CAPF company comprises around 100 personnel, and a record 2450 central paramilitary companies, comprising nearly 2.5 lakh personnel, have been deployed across the state for the assembly polls.
Shah's statement is intended to avert a repeat of the post-poll unrest seen in 2021, following the declaration of the Assembly election results on May 2 that year. Widespread violence broke out across multiple districts, with reports of killings, arson, looting, assaults, sexual violence, and the forced displacement of opposition workers.
Shah also accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of shielding illegal immigrants for vote-bank politics and claimed that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was resisting efforts to remove infiltrators from voter lists.
The results of the West Bengal Assembly elections will be announced on May 4, along with those for Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry.
