Kolkata, Jan 15 || The Election Commission of India (ECI) will consider the record of election-related violence in the last seven elections in West Bengal since 2014 as the determining factor for the extent and pattern of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) deployment for the 2026 Assembly polls in the state.
These seven elections, whose poll-violence records will be under ECI's consideration, include the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, 2019, and 2024, the state Assembly elections in 2016 and 2021, and the polls for the three-tier panchayat system in West Bengal in 2018 and 2023.
Accordingly, the ECI has sought the details of the police station (PS)-wise reports on the records of the poll-related violence in these seven polls, along with the details of casualties’ figures during these elections, with immediate effect, said the sources from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal.
The Commission, the source added, had also sought detailed PS-wise reports of the current status of history-sheeters in the matter.