With the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in its final lap in West Bengal, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has begun preparations to hold the Assembly elections in the state. It has emerged that the poll body requested the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to deploy 480 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in Bengal by March 10.
The MHA recently wrote a letter to the Bengal Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and the Director General of Police stating, “In pursuance of the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s communication dated 20.02.2026, it has been decided to initially deploy 480 [companies] of CAPFs, for area domination, confidence building measures, poll-day related duties, guarding of EVM/Strong room centers and counting centre arrangements etc.
“The State Government is requested to work out the detailed deployment plan, in consultation with the respective CAPFs and Chief Force Coordinator. The movement and deployment of CAPFs shall be coordinated by CRPF…”
ECI sources said 240 companies of para-military forces will enter the state before March 1, and the remaining units will be deployed before March 10.
According to the sources, among the 480 companies of CAPF, 230 companies will be from the CRPF. On the other hand, 120 companies of the BSF, 37 companies of CISF, 47 companies of ITBP, and 46 companies of SSB will also reach the state by March 10.
Usually, Assembly elections in West Bengal are conducted in six or seven phases. But, this time, according to sources at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal, the poll body wants to conduct elections in the state in not more than three phases. But to conduct the polls in fewer phases, the main requirement is to deploy a huge number of central paramilitary forces. As per ECI sources, the proposed deployment of 480 companies of CAPF is part of the plan to conduct the elections in fewer phases.
The MHA letter came just after the Supreme Court order regarding the SIR process in Bengal on Friday. The Supreme Court told the Calcutta High Court to appoint judicial officers to help carry out the SIR exercise in Bengal, noting that a blame game has been going on between the state government and the ECI over the voter rolls clean-up drive.
The judicial officers can look into claims and objections, the Supreme Court said.
“There is an unfortunate scenario of allegations and counter-allegations which shows a trust deficit between two constitutional functionaries… that is, the state government and the Election Commission. Now, the process is stuck at the stage of claims and objections of the people who have been included in the discrepancy list,” Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said.
The Supreme Court told the high court to deploy serving and even former judicial officers in the rank of district judge for SIR work. It said it had to pass an “extraordinary order” due to “extraordinary circumstances”.