CAPF's 92 companies to be deployed in 55 counting centres in Bengal

Kolkata, June 3 (IANS) Counting for the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal will be conducted on Tuesday in 55 centres under a tight security cover of 92 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces.

Sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal said that the counting will be done in 55 centres. These centres will have 418 counting rooms. The total number of counting tables will be 4,944.

The average counting rounds in these 55 counting centres will be 17, with the maximum and minimum number of rounds to range between 9 and 23. A three-tier security layer in and around the counting centres in West Bengal will be placed.

The innermost tier of security within the counting centres will be managed only by the Central Armed Police Forces personnel and one company of CAPF will be deployed at each such centre. The second and third tier of the security layer will be managed by the state police forces which will also include personnel from the armed forces.

The Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari has already appealed to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to ensure that under no circumstance any member of the state police is allowed in the innermost tier of the security.

Section 144 will be imposed in an area of 200 metres of radius. Most importantly, close-circuit CCTV cameras will be installed at each counting centre, including the counting halls. The footage of these CCTV cameras will be preserved for possible counting-related irregularities in future.

The CPI(M) leadership has urged the ECI to ensure that under no circumstance anyone can enter the counting centres producing fake identity cards. The party has also requested the Commission to ensure the security of the counting agents within the polling station.

Counting will be done for by-elections for two Assembly constituencies -- Bhagawangola in Murshidabad district and Baranagar in North 24 Parganas district.

Bypolls for Bhagawangola were held because of the sudden demise of the Trinamool Congress legislator Idris Ali.

In the case of Baranagar, a bypoll was necessitated following the resignation of the erstwhile Trinamool Congress legislator Tapas Roy. Roy resigned as the MLA earlier this year before joining the BJP. He is the BJP's candidate this time from Kolkata-Uttar Lok Sabha.