Thiruvananthapuram: Beginning security preparations for the upcoming assembly elections, the first team of central forces will arrive in the state on Thursday.
As many as 30 companies of central armed police forces (CAPF), including Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will arrive in the state. The state had received 130 companies of CAPF in 2016 assembly elections. The state asked for 175 companies this time, considering the increase in number of booths.
“The first team of central forces of 30 companies will be arriving ahead of the elections. They will undertake familiarization and area-domination exercises in their districts of deployment. We are requesting more companies this time than the last assembly elections,” said K Padmakumar, ADGP (armed police battalion) and nodal officer for CAPF.
Of the 30 companies arriving in the first phase, four each will be sent to politically-sensitive Kannur and Kasargod districts, three each in Thrissur and Ernakulam, two each in Kasargod, Wayanad, Malappuram and Palakkad, and one each in the remaining districts. In addition to CAPF, 34,000 personnel from the state police force would also be deployed for election duty.
For the first time, the election commission of India (ECI) directed that a committee of chief electoral officer, state CAPF coordinator and state police nodal officer should be constituted that should jointly decide the election security plan and ensure randomization of state police and the CAPF personnel. The committee will meet periodically and monitor the deployment and ensure effective and optimum utilization of the security force.
An additional 15,730 polling booths are being set up for the upcoming elections, as the total number of voters permitted in each booth is only 1,000, taking the total number of polling booths in state to 40,771.
The security plan, that will detail the critical, vulnerable and sensitive booths and hamlets in each district, will be prepared jointly by the district collector and the district police chief. Once the plan is prepared, the plan for the deployment of forces will be prepared by the state-level committee.
Also, for Kannur, Kozhikode rural, Wayanad, Malappuram and Palakkad, which are categorized as Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected districts, additional security plans will be prepared. The government has identified 346 LWE-affected polling booths in these districts, which will get five additional CAPF personnel in each booth besides the usual security deployment.