One lakh securitymen for Gujarat polls

The Home Ministry has conveyed to the Election Commission that it would make available 52,000 paramilitary personnel for deployment in Gujarat during the election, official sources said.

Apart from the central forces, 55,000 state policemen will also be deployed to ensure peaceful electioneering in the western state.

The Home Ministry will also provide around 6,000 paramilitary personnel to be deployed in Himachal Pradesh where also the assembly election is due.

More than 14,000 state policemen will also be deployed in the election duties in the hill state where polling is likely to be held in single phase in early November.

 

Deployment of security personnel for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections was finalised after a series of discussion between the EC and Home Ministry officials.

The terms of 182-member Gujarat assembly and 68-member Himachal Pradesh assembly end on January 17 and 10 respectively.

Sources said the Home Ministry may make available to EC some of the central forces a few weeks before the actual polling dates in Gujarat considering the sensitivity involved in several hundred polling stations.

Fearing use of money power in Gujarat, the Commission is also engaged in identifying the number of "expenditure sensitive" constituencies in the state.