The State Government is treading very cautiously to assist in peaceful elections on as many as half of the booths that will go to polls in the first phase of Panchayat elections that will take place on November 22. As many as 479 booths of 1,013 that will elect new representatives to the Panchayati Raj Institutions have been categorised as hypersensitive due to dominance of ultras.
Considering the threat to the democratic processes, the State police have planned to deploy around 47,448 security personnel pooled from the state’s constabulary as well as paramilitary forces, specialized and forces under the command of other Central government entities.
Hinterlands of 24 districts will go to polls amid heavy internal and external mobilization which includes forces from district armed police, home guard; officials from Crime Investigation Department, Central Reserve Police Force, Railway Protection Force, Rapid Action Force, and Basic Trainees would be on their toes to ensure uninterrupted elections in 1243 Panchayats in 78 blocks.
Besides hypersensitive booths, around 201 have been categorised as normal and 333 have been put under the category of sensitive from the threat to electoral process viewpoint. As many as 199 patrolling parties will make rounds in the panchayats that will go to polls whereas 41 sectors have been created for conducting elections. Around 290 polling officials will be deployed in the poll process.
Meanwhile, rural areas of Ranchi will also go to polls in the first phase of three-tier Panchayati Raj system and the election buzz would be more pronounced in Kanke block where 409 booths are located whereas Itki would be relatively calm with just about 99 booths where polling will take place. Around 3,28,305 rural voters will exercise their franchise in the elections. As polling would take place on Sunday, polling officials will leave for the place of deployment on November 21 and State government has declared holiday in areas which will go to polls in the first phase.