Polling parties leave for booths

BHUBANESWAR: THE Election Commission on Tuesday dispatched polling parties to their respective stations and beefed up security in areas bordering the four Lok Sabha constituencies which will go to elections in the first phase on April 11.

Elections will be held in four Lok Sabha seats - Koraput, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur and Berhampur and 28 Assembly segments under their jurisdiction in the first phase.Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) for Odisha Surendra Kumar said as many as 47,805 polling personnel have left for the polling stations with EVMs and VVPATs. A total of 7,233 polling stations have been set up to allow over 60 lakh voters exercise their franchise, while police officials and district administration were asked to review Security Plan and Force Deployment for bordering areas of Malkangiri, Koraput besides other districts to check Moist activities, he said.For shifting polling officials to inaccessible and highly sensitive polling stations in Malkangiri and other Assembly segments, two helicopters will be used, said Kumar.

The CEO said 915 zonal sector magistrates have been deployed to supervise the poll process on the polling day.DGP in-charge BK Sharma said, conducting polls in the Maoist-affected Assembly segments will be challenging. However, adequate CAPF personnel and police force have been deployed in these areas to tackle the situation, he said.

According to sources, thousands of police along with 29 companies of CAPF will be deployed at strategic locations and highly sensitive polling stations to thwart Maoist threat and maintain law and order.Besides the police and paramilitary forces, flying squads, static surveillance teams, poll observers, videography teams and Excise sleuths will be present in all Assembly constituencies to ensure an incident-free polling.

Meanwhile, with campaigning coming to an end for the first phase on Tuesday evening, Joint CEO for Odisha Sachin Ramchandra Jadav said the Election Commission has asked leaders of all political parties, other than those who are voters of the concerned Parliamentary and Assembly segments, to leave the areas by evening.