Kolkata,  With high-voltage state Assembly polls round the corner, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the Centre to support in purchasing the required number of Covid-19 vaccines "on top priority basis".

She said that the state government wants to provide coronavirus vaccines "free of cost to all people" in order to make the forthcoming elections safe for general voters.

"We are required to reach out to every government and parastatal employee on an urgent basis to make the election safe. We feel it is equally important to reach out to them with a rapid vaccination programme immediately (in the) interest of health and well-being of all concerned," Banerjee said, pointing out that West Bengal is preparing for elections.

CM said the worrying point is people in general would be forced to go to polling stations without vaccination.

She requested PM Modi to "instruct appropriate authorities so the state can purchase vaccines, on top priority basis".

She said that the state government wants to provide vaccination free of cost to all the people of Bengal. Bengal has a total population of about 10 crore.