Bhubaneswar: Special security arrangements have been made in polling booths located in left-wing extremist affected areas of Odisha going to polls May 13, Director General of Police (DGP) Arun Sarangi said Sunday.
Voting will be held in four Lok Sabha and 28 MLA segments in nine districts in the first phase May 13, of which six districts – Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangpur, Nuapada and Kalahandi – are Maoist affected, he told a press conference.
Elections will be held in 7,298 polling stations, of which 537 booths are located in the LWE (left-wing extremism) affected areas. To ensure free and fair elections in these areas, special operational arrangements have been launched, Sarangi said.
“We have launched 539 anti-Naxalite operations in these districts since January first week and one Maoist leader was neutralised in Nabarangpur district, while 138 operational parties of CAPF and 37 units of SOG/DVF (state armed police force) are in action,” the DGP said.
The security force units are conducting operations and area-dominating exercises in the Maoist-hit areas, he said.
As the election in Chhattisgarh has already been completed, it was expected that some Maoists may infiltrate into Odisha from the neighbouring state. So, Chhattisgarh is also launching operations in five locations whereas Andhra Pradesh is launching nine such operations in the bordering areas, the Odisha DGP said.
To monitor anti-Maoist initiatives, he said, Additional DGP (operation) S Deva Datta Singh, is camping in LWE affected Kalahandi district. Two choppers have been deployed at Jeypore in Odisha and Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh, for use in case of any emergency like evacuation of security forces or shifting of injured personnel, he added.
For the entire first phase election, 17,000 manpower, 104 companies of CAPF, 66 platoons of state armed police force have been deployed.
Sarangi said that a total of 600 mobile parties are also deployed in the nine districts. Each mobile unit party is monitoring the law and order situation and election activities in 10 to 12 booths.
Further, inter-state border check posts with CCTV have been set up at 51 locations while intra-state border check posts opened at 50 locations. A total of 210 flying squad teams and 195 static surveillance teams have also engaged in election duty, the DGP said.
EVM strong rooms have been set up at 15 locations, which are being guarded round the clock by CAPF and SAP in a 2-tiered security system.
“The Odisha Police is fully geared up for smooth, impartial, free and fair elections in the entire state. The election will be held in 37,898 polling stations at 30,023 locations in four phases in the state,” he said.
To ensure free, fair and inducement-free polls, the Odisha police has stepped up enforcement activities. Since January 1 this year 33,000 warrants have been executed, seven persons have been booked under NSA, and 233 illegal arms have been seized, he said.
Similarly, 4.50 lakh litres of illegal liquor have been seized, 22,000 cases registered and 3,428 persons have been arrested. The police have also seized 725 quintals of ganja and 4.5 kg of brown sugar and 1,048 persons have been arrested.
Moreover, 5,000 acres of hemp cultivation were destroyed, 3,650 litres of cough syrup have been seized and cash of Rs 4.1 crore has been seized.
So far, the police have received 111 social media-related complaints against which 350 contents have been removed, five cases have been registered and one person has been arrested.
PTI
