Central forces to man over 92% booths in 3rd phase polls in Bengal

Central forces are being deployed to man more than 92 per cent of the polling stations in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal due on April 23, an official said on Saturday.

"Over 92 per cent of the booths will be covered by Central forces for the third phase of elections while state armed police force will be deployed in rest of the booths," said Additional Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Basu.

Voters in five constituencies -- Malda North, Malda South, Jangipur, Murshidabad and Balurghat -- will cast their votes in the third phase.

On Friday, Ajay V. Nayak, Special Observer appointed by the Election Commission, had said that 90 per cent of all the polling booths would be covered by the Central forces from the third phase onwards.

According to Nayak, around 50 per cent booths were manned by the Central forces in the first phase and the number was increased to almost 80 per cent in the second phase.

Basu said about 6,993 complaints across districts have been lodged in the commission's portals and more than 70 of them are yet to be disposed of.

The poll panel received over 6,759 complaints through its cVigil app and 42 of them are in the phase of processing, he said.

About 12.14 lakh litre of liquor and over Rs 28.68 crore of unaccounted cash have been seized till Saturday, he added.

--IANS

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