Kolkata to turn into virtual fortress in 7th phase of polls on June 1

Kolkata, May 29 (IANS) Kolkata will turn into a virtual fortress on June 1 when nine Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal, including two in Kolkata, will go to polls in the last and seventh phase of the General Elections. 

Sources in the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), said 246 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) will be deployed for the two constituencies of Kolkata-Dakshin and Kolkata-Uttar.

“In addition to that, 11,500 personnel from Kolkata Police, including those from the armed police units, will be deployed in Kolkata on Saturday,” a CEO office insider said.

A total of 599 Quick Response Teams (ORTs) will be deployed in the city on Saturday.

As per the plans of the Election Commission of India (ECI), around 2,000 QRTs will be deployed for all the nine Lok Sabha constituencies combined that will be going for polls on June 1.

Sources said 1,020 companies of CAPF are there in West Bengal already.

As per plans, 978 companies will be deployed for polling duty in the seventh phase, while the remaining will be kept on reserve.

In the seventh phase, the ECI is giving special emphasis on deployment of QRTs to arrest poll-related tension in areas far from the polling stations.

The nine Lok Sabha constituencies that will be going for polls on June 1 include Kolkata Dakshin and Kolkata Uttar in Kolkata, Jadavpur, Jaynagar, Mathurapur and Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas and Basirhat, Barasat, and Dum Dum in North 24 Parganas.

Apart from the two seats in Kolkata, the two other constituencies that will be under the scanner of the ECI on Saturday will be Basirhat and Diamond Harbour.

Basirhat will be under the lens because Sandeshkhali is one of the seven Assembly constituencies under it and Diamond Harbour because of its past record of poll-related violence.

--IANS

src/rad