Considering the tense situation in some of the politically sensitive rural areas in Kozhikode, security measures adopted by the local police to tackle post-election violence will be maintained as such for a few more days. Night patrol has been intensified in Nadapuram area, where Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) workers locked horns many times over election results.
Meanwhile, District Police Chief (Kozhikode rural) A. Sreenivas said prohibitory orders would not be extended.
“As a precautionary measure, we have decided to continue vigil in all the sensitive areas,” he told The Hindu .
To prevent election-related violence, District Collector Seeram Sambasiva Rao had issued prohibitory orders covering all the sensitive rural areas of Kozhikode district. Subsequently, most of the sensitive villages under Vadakara, Kuttiyadi, Perambra, Nadapuram, Valayam, Edachery and Chombala police station limits had been put under tight police control. The orders issued on the eve of counting were in force till Thursday evening.
Police sources said there were indications of political clashes between CPI(M) and Revolutionary Marxist Party of India (RMPI) activists in Onchiyam and Eramala region after the declaration of election results. As there were similar incidents earlier as well, striking squads would be kept ready for action, they said.
A police official from Nadapuram said the chances of COVID-19 spread was also a factor that prompted them to discourage all post-victory celebrations in local bodies. Similarly, all public gatherings of more than five persons other than candidates and their permitted agents had been prohibited within a 500-metre radius of counting centres, he said.
