Centre urges SC to allow withdrawal of troops from Darjeeling for Gujarat, Himachal polls

New Delhi: The Central government on Wednesday urged the Supreme court to allow the withdrawal of troops from Darjeeling. The Centre said that troops stationed at Darjeeling need to be mobilised for deployment for Gujarat and Himachal elections that are due in December.

The Centre had moved the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court order on withdrawal of security forces from Darjeeling and Kalimpong in West Bengal. The SC on Wednesday agreed to hear the Centre's plea and listed the matter for October 27.

Appearing for the Centre, advocate Wasim Qadri said that along with deployment in poll-bound states, the forces need to be stationed along the borders of Jammu and Kashmir and in the north-eastern states.

The Calcutta High Court had stayed the withdrawal of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) from the Darjeeling hills, the scene of unrest over the statehood demand, till October 27 after the state government approached it against the Centre's decision.

The high court had on July 14 directed the Centre to deploy four more companies of CAPF in addition to the 11 that was already present in the hills then.

The West Bengal government had written to the Centre seeking extended deployment of CAPF till December 25, but was told that of the 15 companies present, 10 would be withdrawn on October 15 and the rest by October 20.

The state was later informed by the Centre that three companies of women CRPF personnel of the 10 proposed to be withdrawn on October 15 would stay there till October 20, he said.

The counsel for the central government had claimed that the situation in the Darjeeling hills had improved compared to July when the order on deployment of paramilitary contingents had been passed by the high court.