To ensure that the Assembly election, barely a few months away, is held in the state peacefully, the State police have sent a proposal to the Centre, asking for 124 companies of CAPF (Central Armed Police Force). During the last Assembly election in Uttarakhand, state police had sought 74 companies of CAPF from the Centre to ensure peaceful polling.
State DGP MA Ganapathy said on Monday that all possible steps have been taken to ensure that the poll passes off peacefully.
As part of the exercise, they have embarked on a drive against the wanted criminals in all the districts of the state from August 8. The district police heads have been asked to put the absconders behind bars at the earliest.
Furthermore, police officers have been directed to be alert vis-à-vis any communal tension brewing in any area.
The state police chief said that the district police heads have been directed to bring down the level of sensitiveness at the polling booths marked as sensitive or ultra sensitive in view of the records of the past elections.
Besides, as per the instruction, the sensitive and the ultra sensitive booths must be marked well within the time stipulated for it.
DIG (law and order) Pushpak Jyoti said the polling booths are thus marked on the basis of the police assessment. However, things vary, depending on various factors like crime graph, communal tensions, political turmoil, candidates’ personality and others.
“We have taken this into consideration while asking the Centre for 124 companies of CAPF for the state’s Assembly election, scheduled next year,” he said.
As per Election Commission’s general guidelines, central forces are deployed at polling stations located near the inter-state border areas, problem areas, sensitive and ultra-sensitive polling stations and EVM strong rooms, Jyoti said.