Keeping in view the inhospitable terrain and the threat perception from the Maoists, the district administration is planning to deploy helicopters to airlift the polling staff and equipment to the interior areas of the AOB region in the district.

District Collector and District Election Officer K. Bhaskar has sought the permission of the State Police Observer K.K. Sarma and Chief Electoral Officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi in this regard.

Security challenge

According to the officials, out of 2,207 polling stations in the district, 1,203 have been identified as “problematic.” Of these, 614 are in the Agency area, and are said to be “sensitive.” Among them, 200 polling stations are “very sensitive” and 20 “critical,” as they are located in the cut-off area of the AOB because of the Left Wing Extremists’ (LWE) movement.

Nearly 200 polling stations lack any form of connectivity. The 20 polling stations in the cut-off area are not accessible by road. Located in the areas such as Injari, Busuputtu, and Killamkota of Pedabayalu, Munchingput and G. Madugula mandals, these polling stations pose a challenge to the security forces, which have to ensure the safety of both the polling staff and the EVMs.

According to the officials, the election staff and equipment will be airlifted up to the police outposts set up at Rallagedda, Nurmati, Peddavalasa and Rudakota. From there, the staff would have to trek up to the polling booths and ferry the EVMs on a horseback.

“During the 2014 elections, there were police outposts only at Rallagedda and Rudakota. But now, we have four secure places, which will be an advantage,” said a senior police officer from the Chintapalli division.

“The polling booths will be under complete security blanket,” he added.

“CRPF, BSF, SSB and a few other police forces are being deployed in the interior areas. Area domination is on full swing in the Maoist-affected areas,” the officer said.

DGP reviews measures

Meanwhile, DGP R.P. Thakur, at a meeting in Visakhapatnam, reviewed the measures being taken for the safe conduct of elections in the district and the AOB region. He also visited the Agency area.

Did Maoists do a recce?

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the banned CPI (Maoist) has done a recce of several polling stations, including Kotturu, Matambheemavaram and Revulakota under the Koyyuru police station limits. After knowing about it, the Visakhapatnam rural police and their East Godavari counterparts have intensified the combing operation in the areas bordering Visakhapatnam and East Godavari.