Former Civil Servants Flag Illegal Deployment of Forest Force for Poll Duty

A group of retired civil servants has raised serious legal concerns over the Assam government’s decision to deploy the state’s specialized Forest Protection Force (FPF) for election security duties in the upcoming 2026 Assembly polls. In a formal memorandum submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the veterans argued that the FPF is a specialized wing governed by the Assam Forest Protection Force Act, which mandates their use exclusively for the protection of forests, wildlife, and forest produce. They contended that diverting these personnel to general law-and-order duties during elections is a “procedural illegality” that leaves the state’s vulnerable national parks and wildlife sanctuaries—including Kaziranga and Manas—exposed to increased poaching risks.

The move has sparked a heated debate regarding the stretching of state resources during the high-stakes electoral cycle. While state authorities have defended the deployment as a necessary “inter-departmental mobilization” to ensure a peaceful voting process in remote and sensitive forest-fringe constituencies, the former bureaucrats warned that this sets a dangerous precedent. They emphasized that unlike the state police, the forest force lacks the specific training required for crowd control and electoral conduct. As the ECI reviews the complaint, environmental activists have joined the call, urging the government to prioritize the ecological security of Assam’s “green gold” over administrative convenience during the heat of the campaign.