Opposition approaches Bengal CEO for central force use

Delegations of Left parties, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party approached the Election Commission on Thursday detailing various irregularities and incidents of vioence in the second phase of Lok Sabha election in West Bengal and demanded more number of central forces for the subsequent rounds.

"In the second phase, 80 percent of the booths have been managed by the central forces. Incidentally the booth where a journalist was attacked was not manned by the central forces. So again we approached the CEO demanding eployment of central forces in all the booths, " BJP leader Mukul Roy told reporters here.

"There are specifically 22 booths in Raiganj where the polls were not conducted fairly. Another 8 booths faced disturbances and voting is still going on," Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Surjya Kanta Mishra said.

Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Bhattacharya alleged violence in many polling stations where the central forces were not deployed.

"Unfortunately, several incidents of violence have been reported in three constituencies. Central forces were deployed mostly in urban areas while state police personnel were deployed in many sensitive areas," he said.

--IANS

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