Bengal demands 80,000 central security personnel for polls

Kolkata, Feb 2 (PTI) The West Bengal government todaymade a fresh demand for 80,000 security personnel of centralforces for peaceful conduct of Assembly polls in the stateduring a meeting with Deputy Election Commissioner VinodZutsh.

After an hour-long meeting with Chief Secretary SamarGhosh, Home Secretary G D Gautama, DGP Naparajit Mukherjee andKolkata Police Commissioner Goutam Mohan Chakraborty in thepresence of state''s Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Gupta,Zutshi said the discussion centred around how the state wasprepared to hold the Assembly elections, due later this year.

State Home Secretary G D Gautama told reporters thatthe state government stood firm on its demand for 800companies of central forces for peaceful conduct of polls inthe state.

Asked if the meeting covered requirement of centralforces, law and order situation and other related issues,Zutshi said, "Election preparedness includes everything."

Zutshi said he would now interact with all DMs and SPsof the state for the next two days to get a detailed feedbackand the latest position.