BJP writes to Election Commission for booth-wise deployment of central forces during bypolls

LUCKNOW: BJP today asked the Election Commission to decide details of booth-wise deployment of the central forces for the free and fair byelections saying that leaving it to the state government would defeat the purpose.

"The district level officials decide on how much central force has to be deployed where, but in the present scenario the administrative and police officials are working under the pressure of the state government," BJP state unit president Laxmikant Bajpai said in a letter to the Election Commission.

"If the commission itself decides in principle on how much central force has to be deployed where, the chances of irregularities would be mitigated and the officials would also be answerable to the commission in case of any problem", Bajpai said.