Around 85,000 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) will be travelling around 3,000 km in 40 days to ensure the peaceful conduct of elections across five States.
The Home Ministry and the Election Commission have set up a 24/7 control room to monitor the movement of forces in real time. Any delay in moving the forces in one State could have cascading effect on elections in the others, said a senior Home Ministry official.
The official said they were battling extreme weather conditions in north India to make the forces reach their destinations in time. The Indian Railways has already assigned 22 special trains for these forces.
Based on the law and order situation, the sensitive assembly seats have been colour coded. The most difficult areas would be provided security by Central Reserve Police Force and Border Security Force (BSF), which have considerable experience in internal security as well as law and order duties. The less sensitive ones will be manned by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Railway Protection Force (RPF).
Language issue
“The forces are being drawn from Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Karnataka and Kerala and are being sent to Punjab, which is the first among the five States to go for polls on February 4. We have already moved the forces but they were delayed due to persistent fog conditions which led to cancellation of the train,” said the official.
The Election Commission had earlier demanded one lakh CAPF personnel (1,000 companies) for deployment during the Assembly elections but Home Ministry informed them that around 850 companies were available.
“It’s not only the logistics but there is the language barrier too. For example we have several troops moving from Kerala to Punjab. To ensure that there is no communication gap, we have appointed liaison officers who would interact in the local language,” said the official.
Starting from Punjab, the security forces would move to north-west Uttar Pradesh, the largest among the five poll-bound States in terms of geographical area and population.
“Some forces would stay back to secure the ballot boxes as the elections progress. By the time Manipur goes to polls on March 4 and 8, around 60 % of the 85,000 forces would be there,” said the official.
Concern over Manipur
Due to the ongoing economic blockade, Manipur has been kept in the most sensitive category and an official said this was the first time elections were being held in two phases there.
“As of now, already 17,500 central forces are deployed in Manipur. Around 50,000 more would reach in March after elections in other States. We have requisitioned choppers and aircraft to move the forces, in case the weather worsens,” said the official.
Manipur is reeling under ethnic tensions after the call for an economic blockade by the United Naga Council (UNC) to protest against the creation of seven new districts by the State government. The UNC sees the move as an attempt to truncate the concept of a greater Nagalim.
