Tripura State Rifles to be deployed in Bengal for election duties after Assam polls

As part of the Central forces, the elite Tripura State Rifles (TSR), which has previously undertaken election-related duties in more than a dozen states, is set to be deployed in poll-bound West Bengal, officials said here on Saturday.

A senior police official stated that, following a request from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), ten TSR companies comprising 778 personnel had been deployed in Assam, where elections to the 126-member State Assembly were held on April 9. After the completion of polling in Assam, the ten TSR companies moved to West Bengal on Friday night and are expected to reach the state on Saturday.

“After reaching West Bengal, the TSR troops will be deployed across different districts,” the official told.

Voting for the 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be conducted in two phases -- on April 23 (152 seats) and April 29 (142 seats). The counting of votes is scheduled for May 4.

The official further noted that two ad-hoc battalions of the TSR, each comprising five companies, were initially deployed in Assam and will now be stationed in West Bengal to carry out election-related duties.

“The TSR (India Reserve Battalion) is being deployed in Assam and West Bengal as part of the Central forces.

Two senior Commandants, Amarjit Debbarma and Alok Bhattacharjee, are leading the TSR battalions,” the official said. He added that the MHA had initially requested the Tripura government to provide 25 TSR companies for deployment in the two poll-bound states.

However, the state government was reluctant to spare such a large number of personnel due to two crucial elections within Tripura -- the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) polls and the by-election in the Dharmanagar Assembly constituency in North Tripura district. Elections to the 30-member, politically significant TTAADC will be held on April 12 (Sunday), while the by-election in the Dharmanagar Assembly constituency was held on April 9.

The TSR has 14 battalions, of which 11 are categorized as India Reserve Battalions. These units can be deployed in any state across the country when required by the MHA.

During the Lok Sabha elections held between April 19 and June 1, 2024, TSR personnel were deployed for polling duties in Maharashtra, Bihar, Odisha, and Himachal Pradesh.

In addition to providing security during the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, TSR’s India Reserve battalions have undertaken election duties in almost all states, ensuring security during both Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

Trained in counter-insurgency operations, TSR personnel have demonstrated exemplary performance in Tripura, playing a crucial role in curbing the four-and-a-half-decade-long insurgency in the Northeastern state.

Two TSR battalions, comprising around 2,000 personnel, including officers, have been stationed in the national capital under the Delhi Police since 2019, and with South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) in Chhattisgarh since 2022.

Apart from these deployments in Delhi and Chhattisgarh, one battalion is currently providing dedicated security to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s drilling sites in Tripura.