The Central Government has approved deployment of six companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) for peaceful completion of Uttarakhand Assembly bypolls in three segments — Someshwar in Almora district, Dharchula in Pithoragarh and Doiwala in Dehradun. The polling for Assembly bypolls is scheduled to be held on July 21 and counting of votes will be conducted on July 25,” said Additional Director General of Police (law and Order) Ram Singh Meena on Wednesday. “One of the companies will be deployed during the counting of votes,” he added.
Meena said, “With the approval of six companies of CAPF to the State, the department will be able to deploy additional police force at sensitive and ultra sensitive polling booths during the Assembly bypoll.” He said that out of six CAPF companies, two companies and one section will be deployed in Dharchula, two companies and two sections in Doiwala and one company in Someshwar for peaceful competition of Assembly bypolls. The district police heads have been directed to deploy adequate police force including CAPF, Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) jawans, Uttarakhand police, Home Guards and PRD jawans at each polling booth during the assembly bypolls in their respective districts.
He further said that with the deployment of force, sensitive and ultra sensitive polling booths have already been identified in the polling bound areas. Out of 411 polling booths, 50 have been identified as hyper sensitive and 95 as sensitive. “The district police heads have been directed to initiate effective measures to lower the sensitiveness of those polling centres which have been categorised as sensitive and ultra sensitive,” he added.