Over a lakh security personnel to be deployed for poll duty.
“Nearly 3,500 places have been identified as sensitive in the State (excluding Chennai City) for the elections and elaborate security arrangements have been made for peaceful polling in those areas,” Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) for Law and Order C. Sylendra Babu said.
The ADGP was interacting with newsmen at the city Police Commissioner’s office here on Wednesday before chairing a review meeting of police officers in the region on arrangements for the assembly elections.
He clarified that there were many booths in of those sensitive places.
“Such places include areas that recorded 100 per cent polling and those vulnerable for trouble or violence,” he said.
He added that a total of 282 companies from the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) with about 70 personnel per company will be deployed at those places. As many as 175 companies have already arrived.
Arrangements
On arrangements for peaceful polling in the booths in Coimbatore and The Nilgiris bordering Kerala (that could attract threat from Maoists) Mr. Sylendra Babu said that three teams of Special Task Force (STF) personnel will be deployed in such booths in addition to the regular security arrangements.
“There has been no sighting of Maoists in the State after the one in The Nilgiris a month ago,” he said.
In all, nearly one lakh personnel including 60,000 policemen and women will be deployed for poll duty in the State, excluding Chennai City.
The remaining 40,000 personnel include CAPF and non-police personnel such as ex-servicemen, retired police, home guards and NSS personnel, he added.
Cases
So far the police have registered 3,200 cases of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violation against political parties and organisations from April 3. “Fifty-one cases of violence have also been registered,” the ADGP said.
According to him, 9,000 ex-convicts and mischief mongers have been identified and the police have done binding over of nearly 8,500 of them so far in the presence of a revenue official under the provisions of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
Of about 22,000 licensed gun holders (excluding Chennai), around 20,000 of them have surrendered their weapons so far.
Police Commissioners A. Amalraj (Coimbatore City) and M.N. Manjunatha (Tirupur City), Superintendents of Police of R.V. Ramya Bharathi (Coimbatore), Saroj Kumar Thakur (Tirupur) and Murali Rambha (The Nilgiris) took part in the meeting.