Overview
- The Election Commission said about 500 companies of Central Armed Police Forces will stay in West Bengal after results until further orders.
- Roughly 2,400 companies are assigned for the polls, with about 1,700 to leave after voting and around 200 kept to guard EVM strongrooms and counting centres.
- Officials linked the extended stay to West Bengal’s record of post-poll attacks, pointing to a 2021 NHRC probe that documented murders, sexual assaults, arson, and intimidation.
- Any later drawdown of the post-result deployment will require clearance from the Election Commission, which may also involve the Union home ministry.
- The Commission ordered a review of state police protection given to ruling-party supporters and suspended a local assistant returning officer for partisan conduct.