Ahead of the seven-phase Lok Sabha election in West Bengal, the Election Commission of India (EC) has decided to rush 100 additional companies of central paramilitary forces to the state. This is in addition to the 177 companies earlier earmarked for the state, which has reported incidents of political violence over the past several years. Of the 177 companies deployed earlier, 33 are from CRPF, 97 from BSF, 17 from CISF, 10 from ITBP, 15 from SSB and 5 from RPF. The 100 additional companies comprise 55 from CRPF and 45 from BSF. These include troops currently posted in Manipur, which was hit by ethnic violence last year. Each company has a sanctioned strength of 100 personnel. This means that at least 25,000 paramilitary personnel will be in Bengal to ensure a peaceful election. Paramilitary personnel are deployed to hold exercises such as area domination to build confidence among voters so that free and fair elections can be ensured
