EC to deploy 500 companies of paramilitary forces

CEC to visit Bangalore for review next week

The Election Commission (EC) is deploying 500 companies of paramilitary forces comprising of 50,000 personnel to ensure free and fair elections to the Legislative Assembly on May 5. The deployment of forces will be in addition to the state police personnel.

"Besides state police force, we require paramilitary forces as we are holding polls in a single phase. The Election Commission of India has provided us 500 companies of paramilitary forces and the schedule of their arrival in the state will be decided at a meeting in Delhi tomorrow. The EC has convened a meeting with senior officials of the Home and Railway ministries in New Delhi on Friday to discuss the issue," state chief electoral officer (CEO) Anil Kumar Jha told reporters, here on Thursday.

He said, a Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) campaign would be held in the state to create awareness among the people to participate in the poll process, particularly in Bangalore where the poll percentage was quite low in the previous elections in 2008.

The commission would launch a campaign in all districts centres asking people above 18 years of age as on January 1, 2013, to enroll in the voters' list. About 66 per cent of the state's population is above 18 years of age while it is 63 per cent in Bangalore. Efforts would be made to reach the target of 65 per cent in Bangalore, he said.

The voters' list is being revised, and 165,000 names have been added to the earlier announced total electorate of 41.8 million including 20.4 million women voters. The ratio of female voters to male voters is 956:1,000 against 968:1,000 in the general population in the state.

Jha said, the Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) is not enough to cast vote. Voters must enroll their names in the electoral roll of the Election Commission. He urged citizens aged above 18 years and above to check for their name in the electoral rolls. "Those who do not have their names in the electoral rolls, can enroll their names in the voters' list by filling Form No 6 till April 7. There are some errors in the voter database and those are being corrected using a software. Over 43,000 such cases have already been corrected," he said.

A team of the Election Commission led by Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath would come to Bangalore again next week to review election preparations, he stated.