Uttarakhand secures Char Dham, border ahead of polls

Bracing for the April 11 polls, Uttarakhand has heightened security around the Char Dham shrines and will seal the border with Nepal two days ahead of the elections, a top police official said here on Monday.

To ensue a free and fair process, 60 additional companies of central forces will be deployed to manage 11,238 polling booths, Director General of Police (Law and Order) Ashok Kumar said.

"We have also increased vigil around all the four Char Dham shrines --Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri," Kumar said. All the shrines are still closed, and will only open separately in the first week of May.

The long border with Nepal would be sealed in Pithoragarh and Champawat districts on April 9 itself, he said.

Checking on the inter-state borders have also been increased by erecting 85 barriers with adjoining states Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

Out of the total 11,238 booths in the state, nearly 563 have been declared vulnerable and 969 critical. Most of the vulnerable and critical booths are mostly in the districts in the plains such as Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar and Dehradun.

In addition to 16,000 state police personnel, home guards will also be deployed in the state. There will be 235 flying squads also to keep vigil in the state.

"Our arrangements for the elections and post-elections for EVMs will be totally foolproof," Kumar said. The EVMs will be stored in 11 strong rooms after the votes are cast. These will be across the state and will be guarded by five companies of the Indo-Border Tibetan Police (ITBP).

--IANS

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