Telangana police deploy over 50,000 personnel for elections

The Telangana police are fully geared up to facilitate free, fair and peaceful conduct of Lok Sabha elections in the State on April 11. Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order) Jitender on Monday said necessary measures were in place to maintain law and order in all the 33 districts.

Deployment of more than 50,000 personnel from the Telangana police besides Central forces as part of poll ‘bandobust’ was already completed, he said while interacting with mediapersons.

“We are working as per the guidelines of Election Commission of India (ECI). Our effort is to see that the polls are conducted in a peaceful manner,” he said. According to Jitender, there are 34,667 polling stations, with 6,394 identified as critical. A close watch is being kept on the movement of cash, liquor, gifts, contraband and other articles that could influence voters. A vigil is also maintained on all inter-State and inter-district borders.

Air ambulance and helicopters are being arranged for contingency at strategic locations on the poll day. Security arrangements would be made for the meetings of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and Chief Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, K Chandrasekhar Rao and N Chandrababu Naidu, respectively.

Elaborate security arrangements would be made for public meetings, road shows and rallies. “Based on threat perception, we will



provide security to contesting candidates from various political parties,” Jitender, who is also a nodal officer, said.

A record number of non-bailable warrants was executed as a run-up to the election. “So far, we have registered 198 FIRs related to poll violence, SC and ST and Model Code of Conduct based on complaints against different persons and political workers,” he added.

Hyderabad Commissioner Anjani Kumar said the city police was geared up for the Lok Sabha elections. Two parliamentary constituencies — Hyderabad and Secunderabad — fall under the limits of Hyderabad police commissionerate and adequate arrangements have been made for the peaceful conduct of poll.

In the first phase, 9,749 police officers have been trained by the city police so far. In the second phase, a few thousand more officers will be trained in the next one week. A total of 90 statistic surveillance teams and flying squads have been constituted to keep a check on those flouting Model Code of Conduct.

So far, Rs 2.80 crore cash has been seized in addition to liquor and freebies. “Senior police officers are visiting all the polling stations, including those which are critical, to make necessary arrangements. Our aim is to ensure, peaceful free and fair, inclusive and participative election,” the Commissioner said.