The Election Commission on Tuesday decided to put a monitoring system in place to ensure the proper utilisation of central forces deployed during the Bengal Assembly polls. So far, the EC depended entirely on the state administration for the proper utilisation of central forces. This is the first time the EC is initiating measures to monitor the movement and actions of the forces, sources said. The EC requested the Centre to deploy 480 companies of central forces in Bengal by March 10 even before the election dates were declared. The way the EC is taking up strict measures to monitor central forces in Bengal from the start, a heavy deployment of central forces is expected during the polls," said an EC source.

Source: The Telegraph March 05, 2026 00:28 UTC