The Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government has turned down Bengal’s request for forces for the panchayat elections, citing prior commitment to Karnataka.

“The Centre has asked us to send forces to Karnataka for the Assembly polls in May. We will be sending 15 companies (1,500 personnel) of the state reserve force to Karnataka as the Centre had sounded us long ago. So, we won’t be able to spare any for Bengal,” Amitabh Pathak, the additional director-general of police (law and order), said in Ahmedabad.

Gujarat has 70,000 police personnel and a 15,000-strong reserve force.