In a bid to ensure peaceful polls in the final phase of elections in Jharkhand’s Godda, Rajmahal and Dumka constituencies on Sunday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to deploy at least 37,000 security personnel, from central forces and state police, across the six districts covering the three parliamentary constituencies, officials said on Friday.
Addressing the media at the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), L Khiangte’s office on Friday, Inspector General (Operations) Ashish Batra said that elaborate security arrangements have been made for peaceful polling in the Left Wing Extremism-affected constituencies on Sunday.
“A total of 153 companies from central forces and 66 companies from the State police will be deployed in the constituencies on the polling day. Besides, 4700 homeguards and 18000 district police personnel will ensure peaceful elections across the three constituencies of Santhal Pargana,” Batra said.
There are a total of 137 woman polling stations in the three constituencies and armed woman police personnel will be deployed in all of them to maintain law and order, he added.
At least seven booths in the final phase will have helidropping facility, while aerial surveillance across the constituencies will keep a watch on the movement of police companies and suspected activities of the CPI (Maoist) and other rebel outfits, police said.
To maintain law and order during the elections and avert any form of disruption to the polling process, the police have seized at least 14,086 licensed arms from the residents of the areas that will vote on Sunday. Besides, license for 11 arms were cancelled, while two licensed arms could not be traced.
Meanwhile, CEO L Khiangte said that at least 75,051 fresh voters were added to the list of electorates in the three constituencies from January 1 to April 29. As per the latest figures with the ECI, the total number of electorates in the final phase of elections here is 45, 64, 681, he added.
The total number of voters in the three parliamentary constituencies has increased by 8.91 per cent in comparison with 2014, Khiangte said, adding that the polling process at least 591 polling stations will be webcast on Sunday.
A total of 27,536 poll personnel will monitor the elections in the constituencies on Sunday across the 6,258 polling stations. Khiangte said that as many as 62, 762 voters will exercise their franchise for the first time in the three constituencies. Out of these millennial voters, 38, 403 are men, 24, 355 are women and four represent the third gender.
More than half of the over 45 lakh electorates in the fourth and final phase of general elections in Jharkhand are below the age of 40 years. Out of the total electorates, 23,64,541 are men and 22,00,119 are women, while 21 represent the third gender. Among the voters in the age bracket of 18 to 40 years, around 13 lakh are men and around 12 lakh are women. Young voters, in the age bracket of 18-25 years form 16.29 per cent of the total electorates in the three constituencies.
Three of four phases of elections for the 14 parliamentary constituencies in Jharkhand are already over. The final phase of election, covering Santhal Pargana, a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) stronghold, is set to witness a tough contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ‘Mahagathbandhan’.