4 mn civilian officials, 2 mn security personnel in polls

A mammoth 4 million civilian officials and 2.1 million security personnel would be deployed for the smooth conduct of five-phased Lok Sabha polls beginning April 16, the Election Commission said today.

Addressing a press conference here, Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami said personnel of central police forces, state police forces, home guards and Railway Protection Force would be mobilised to guard the more than 828,000 polling stations spread throughout the country.

"We have had meetings with Union Home Secretary (Madhukar Gupta) on February 6 and 24 on deployment of security personnel," he said while announcing the poll schedule.

Gopalaswami said the Commission had held meetings with the Chief Secretaries and Directors General of Police of all states and discussed in detail about the smooth conduct of the massive exercise before announcing the polling dates.

The Election Commission also had meetings with Director General of Railway Protection Force Ranjit Sinha for deployment of security personnel of the force in election duties.

 The Commission will engage 4 million civilian officers, including presiding officers, polling officers, observers among others who would be drawn from central and state governments.

The challenge before the Commission as well as the security agencies would be the naxal-infested states along with insurgency-hit Jammu and Kashmir and Northeastern region.

Among the recently held assembly elections, the polling in left wing extremist-hit Chhattisgarh and Jammu and Kashmir passed off peacefully barring a few sporadic incidents of violence.

The threat of naxals was so much in Chhattisgarh that Commission had for the first time deployed Border Security Force in the state during the last assembly elections.

Nearly 270 newly trained women from Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) may also be deployed for the first time in the election duties as they have finished weeks of intensive training.

"A total of 270 women personnel will pass out from our Himachal Pradesh training academy on March 3. These women, constituting three companies, will be available for election duties in the forthcoming polls," SSB Director General M V Krishna Rao said.