The Centre has agreed to allot forces to maintain law and order during the panchayat polls scheduled for May 11, May 14 and May 18.
Home Secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti confirmed this today, saying Orissa, Tripura and Kerala have agreed to spare armed police forces for West Bengal.
"We will get about 56 companies of paramilitary forces and from the three states too, we will get some forces. Overall, we are going to get 20-22 companies of security force from outside the state to maintain law and order," he said.
He also said the state government is going to raise a force of 12,000-13,000 per- sonnel from the state police force, who will be used for law and order duty during panchayat elections.
"All these forces will be used on a rotational basis. But while we will be able to deploy armed guards in all booths in the third phase, we will not be able to do that in the first or second phase, there will be gaps," the home secretary said.
