Bholanath, who took over as the Director General of Police (DGP) - Elections, exclusively to conduct the Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu on the orders of the Election Commission (EC) and also given additional charge of DGP of the State, on Friday met Election Commission officials here .
Sources said the full Commission – Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi and Election Commissioners V.S. Sampath and H.S. Brahma – briefed him on the deployment of security forces for the campaign period, during the April 13 election and counting of votes on May 13.
The sources added that Mr. Bholanath, who has been asked to handle the law and order too in view of long leave being granted to Director General of Police Letika Saran by EC, sought 3,000 personnel of the Central Paramilitary Forces (CPF) in addition to 200 companies of the CPF already deployed in Tamil Nadu, for providing effective and foolproof security.
The Commission was considering the request. Additional DGP (Law and Order) K. Radhakrishnan accompanied Mr. Bholanath.
Meanwhile, Additional DGP (Intelligence) M.S. Jaffer Sait, who appeared before the Commission early this week, has sought leave for more than 50 days and his “leave application is under the Commission's consideration,” the sources added.
On the comment made by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M. Karunanidhi that the Commission did not consult the State government before announcing the poll schedule, a senior EC official said there was no such precedence of the Commission consulting the respective State government before announcing the poll schedule.
“We want to ensure a level playing field in the election and if such consultation is made, naturally it will be advantageous for the ruling party.” The poll date was fixed after holding elaborate internal and external discussions and taking into account various factors, he said.
