The General and Assembly elections in the city and in the district passed off peacefully without any untoward incident on Thursday.
Even in the Agency areas, where there is Maoist presence, there were hardly any incident, except for the recovery of three improvised explosive devices in Pedabayalu region.
Primarily, it is being attributed to the presence of considerable number of security forces, which were drawn from local city police, district armed reserve, AP Special Police Battalions and central armed forces such as CRPF, BSF, ITBP and SSB.
While SSB (Sashastra Seema Bal) primarily assisted the city police, the CRPF, BSF and ITBP assisted the district police and the Greyhounds, in the rural and Agency areas of the district.
It is estimated that about 6,000 personnel drawn from various establishments were put on poll duty.
This apart that aided the security forces was technology.
For the first time drones and UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) were used for surveillance.
Not specifying the number of drones or UAV that were used, Superintendent of Police Attadda Babujee said that they were used to spot the movement of Maoists in the interior parts of Agency areas such as Pedabayalu, Chintapalli, Munchingput and G Madugula.
The UAVs and drones were monitored from the mobile control unit that moved between Munchingput and Pedabayalu and other extremist-hit areas, and also monitored from the armed outposts such at Rudakota and Rallagedda.
The four armed outposts at Rudakota, Rallagedda, Nuramati and Peddavalasa, formed the base from where the movement and manoeuvring of the forces were done.
This apart, other technology tools such as CCTV cameras, satellite phones and body-worn cameras also played a critical role.
In the city, CCTV cameras were widely used and it was monitored from the central command control centre.
According to a senior police officer, over 1,500 cameras were used on the poll day to monitor the poll scenario.
Police personnel on duty near polling stations were also given hand-held cameras to record any form of malpractices.
“All these checks and gadgets played a key role in maintaining the law and order in the city,” said the officer.
Sumit Bhattacharjee
