When Elections Need Paramilitary Protection: What It Says About West Bengals Governance
The Normalisation of Election Security Preparation
When 480 companies of Central Armed Police Forces are deployed before a single date is even announced, it is not a routine logistical exercise. It is a vote of no confidence in the state administration. The Election Commissions early surge into West Bengal is a direct response to a governance model that has swapped the rule of law for the rule of the party. This is not election preparation; it is a containment strategy for a state where democratic normalcy has been systematically dismantled.
From Democratic Exercise to Security Operation
In 2021, West Bengal required an unprecedented eight-phase election and nearly 1,000 CAPF companies. This is not the hallmark of a vibrant democracy; it is the footprint of a security operation. The necessity for such overwhelming force stems from a political culture that treats the ballot box as a battlefield. When the state police are viewed as an extension of the ruling party’s cadre rather than neutral enforcers, the central government has no choice but to step in. The shame is not in the deployment, but in the institutional decay that makes it mandatory.
SIR and the Border Question
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process was not born in a vacuum. It was a direct response to the unchecked influx of illegal Bangladeshis who have been systematically integrated into the electoral fabric of the state. Recent enforcement actions, including the detention of over 100 individuals in 2025 and the documented return of 1,600 nationals at border points, prove that the rot is deep. For years, the sanctity of the Indian voter ID has been auctioned for political loyalty. The SIR is the first real attempt to decontaminate these rolls, yet it has faced fierce resistance from those who benefit from the dilution of citizenship.
Vote Bank Incentives and Administrative Laxity
The primary hurdle to a clean electoral roll is the Mamta Banerjee administration. By framing the SIR and the verification of illegal immigrants as an attack on legitimate citizens, the state government has provided a shield for those who have no legal right to be here. This is a calculated administrative failure. Documentation is issued with a wink and a nod, local policing is told to look the other way, and the border remains a porous gateway for future voters. When a state government prioritizes its vote bank over national security and electoral integrity, it forfeits its claim to responsible governance.
Law and Order and Political Culture
The Supreme Courts refusal to stay the SIR process was a landmark moment for accountability, signaling that the judiciary recognizes the gravity of the situation. Despite this, the state continues to create hurdles, attempting to delegitimize the very process meant to ensure a fair poll. The cycle of intimidation and post-poll violence has become a signature of West Bengals political landscape. If the state machinery cannot or will not guarantee a peaceful environment, then the dependence on the CAPF is not just a preference—it is a survival mechanism for democracy itself.
The Cost of Democratic Securitisation
There is a massive financial and symbolic cost to turning a state into an armed camp every five years. It diverts elite national security resources to do the job that local constabulary should be doing. More importantly, it signals to the world that West Bengal is an outlier in the Indian federation—a state where the basic machinery of the republic has been so compromised by partisan interests that it can no longer function without a bayonet at the door.
Accountability and Reform
Real reform cannot happen through deployment alone. It requires the completion of the SIR without state-sponsored interference. It requires the identification and removal of illegal names from the rolls, regardless of which party they support. Most importantly, it requires a political leadership that stops treating illegal immigration as a recruitment drive. The Election Commission is doing its part by securing the perimeter, but the core of the problem lies in the writers of the state’s policy who have traded sovereignty for power.
The Real Question
When an election requires this level of paramilitary intervention, we are not looking at a healthy democracy; we are looking at a state in distress. The refusal of the Supreme Court to halt the cleanup of the rolls should have been a wake-up call. Instead, the resistance continues. Is West Bengal a state governed by the Constitution, or is it a fiefdom where the integrity of the border and the ballot are secondary to the survival of the regime?
