West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026: Election Commission Directs State Administration To Mandatorily Conduct CAPF Route Marches by March 14
The ECI has ordered West Bengal to complete CAPF route marches across all 294 constituencies by March 14. Retired IAS officer Subrata Gupta has been named central observer for the upcoming polls. Additionally, the commission has sought details on police officers stationed in areas that witnessed significant violence after the 2021 elections.
Kolkata, March 10: The Election Commission of India (ECI), on Tuesday, directed the West Bengal administration to mandatorily complete the first phase of conducting the route marches and area domination exercises of the available Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel in all districts of the state by March 14. Already, a total of 480 companies of the CAPF have arrived in West Bengal in two separate batches.
"The ECI had on Tuesday directed the state government to ensure that the first phase of route marches and area domination exercises are conducted in each of the 294 Assembly constituencies in the state by 8 p.m. on March 14," an insider from the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO). The ECI had already completed the district-wise process of allotment of the available 480 companies of CAPF. West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026: BJP, CPI(M) and Congress Push for Shorter 1–2 Phase Polling Schedule; TMC Refrains From Phase Demands.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the ECI had also announced that retired IAS officers from West Bengal cadre, Subrata Gupta, who had been the acting special roll observer for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), will also be appointed the central observer for the forthcoming state Assembly polls. The CEO's office said that the ECI is extremely happy with Subrata Gupta's performance so far as the special roll observer during the SIR process, and therefore it has decided to appoint him as the central observer for the forthcoming West Bengal Assembly polls.
At the same time, the ECI, on Tuesday, had sought the details of officers-in-charge of police stations in those districts in West Bengal where large scale post-poll violence took place after the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections. The Commission, on Tuesday, had sought the details of these policemen from the Acting Director General of West Bengal Police, Peeyush Pandey. West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026: Amit Shah To Flag Off BJP’s ‘Parivartan Yatra’ on March 1.
Apart from that, the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has sought the details of the immediate higher-ups of those officers-in-charge at that point in time.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 10, 2026 11:52 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).