West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 | Paramilitary chiefs meet in Kolkata; Mamata Banerjee flags central agency misuse amid ED, I-T raids

Kolkata: The top brass of the central paramilitary forces held an unprecedented meeting in Kolkata on Sunday to discuss security arrangements for the assembly elections in West Bengal, where polling will be held in two phases on April 23 and 29.

The chiefs of the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Sashastra Seema Bal and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police met in Kolkata, just two days after the Income Tax department raided the premises of Debashis Kumar, the Trinamool Congress’s candidate in Rashbehari in Kolkata, and Miraj Shah, one of the proposers of the candidature of West Bengal chief minister and the ruling party’s supremo, Mamata Banerjee, in Bhabanipur, as well as a few others on Friday.

The senior officials of the central paramilitary personnel discussed security arrangements, with particular focus on the use of technology, to ensure free and fair assembly elections in West Bengal, according to the sources. The Election Commission will deploy 2407 companies of paramilitary forces during the first phase of voting on April 23, the day 152 constituencies spread across 16 of the 23 districts would go to polls.

A large number of armoured vehicles have also been deployed.

The Enforcement Directorate arrested Joy Kamdar, a businessman, on Sunday, after conducting searches in the premises owned by him at Behala in Kolkata as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering by a criminal network. The agency also searched the house of Shantanu Sinha Biswas, deputy commissioner of police, at Ballygunge in Kolkata. The ED conducted the raids as part of a probe into money laundering by a criminal network allegedly headed by Biswajit Podder, alias Sona Pappu, who was accused of multiple attempted murders and extortion.

“My security officer has been under raid since morning. Does this mean you intend to eliminate me? Do you believe you can win Bengal by getting me killed?” Mamata said at a rally in Tarakeshwar, Hooghly, on Sunday. She was apparently referring to the ED raids at the residence of Biswas. “Do you believe you can win West Bengal by getting me killed? Go ahead and try – the CPI (M) made many such attempts on my life while in power.”

The TMC supremo and her party recently accused not only the central agencies, but also the central paramilitary forces personnel deployed in West Bengal for the elections, of specifically targeting the ruling party’s candidates and supporters.

Mamata, herself, alleged recently that the central paramilitary force personnel approached her car near the airport in Kolkata. She said that she, herself, had then invited them to search.

She questioned what she described as selective scrutiny, asking why only the vehicles of the TMC leaders were being stopped and searched, and whether such practices were consistent with free and fair elections. The TMC has lodged a complaint with the EC, alleging that some of the poll panel’s officials directed teams on WhatsApp groups to conduct targeted checks on the vehicles of the leaders of the ruling party and the members of their families.