ITANAGAR, 12 Apr: While 70 companies of central forces, Special Armed Police battalions and IRBn are stationed in different districts of Arunachal Pradesh, 10 companies of central forces will arrive in the state by next week, and a total of 80 companies will be in position during the general elections in the state, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pawn Kumar Sain informed in a release.
“The deployment of such a large number of security personnel is the highest ever in the Arunachal Pradesh. The core duties of the paramilitary personnel deployed for election duty is to instill a sense of confidence and security among people to exercise their franchise freely, without any fear.
“The additional responsibilities of the armed forces include maintaining law and order, preventing poll violence, and guarding the electronic voting machines (EVM),” Sain said.
The 10 additional companies of special forces have been deployed by the Election Commission of India, in coordination with the home ministry, after assessing the ground reports related to the election process in the state, the release stated, adding that the special forces would “take stern action against those who intervene or interfere in the electoral process in the state.”
The deployment of central forces would help in preventing post-poll violence, booth capturing, damaging of EVMs, and eventually help in eradicating the re-poll culture in the state, it added.
The release further stated that, besides the deployment of the armed forces, webcasting of polling stations will be in place. “Apart from all these, micro-observers have been appointed against the critical polling stations, who would be reporting to the general observers,” it added.
On the poll day, the CAPF will be assigned duties of guarding the polling stations, poll materials, poll personnel and the poll process.
“The CAPF may be deployed in any of the following manners: (i) Static guarding of chosen polling stations solely and exclusively by CAPF; (ii) Static guarding of polling stations as part of a mixed (composite) team with local state forces;
(iii) Patrolling duty on assigned routes (election sectors) covering a fixed cluster of polling stations; (iv) Patrolling duty as ‘flying squads’ in a defined area with surprise element; (v) Escorting duty of polled EVMs with polling personnel back to the receipt centre/strongroom after polls are over; (vi) Any other work that is necessitated to ensure the purity and fidelity of the election process,” the release informed.
