The district administration will deploy over 10,000 security personnel in the 11 Left Wing Extremism-affected mandals in the Agency to ensure that the upcoming Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) elections are held peacefully.
All the 11 mandals in the Agency area of Visakhapatnam district are declared ‘sensitive’ because of the presence of the banned CPI (Maoist). Elaborate arrangements are being made by the authorities concerned to ensure that the elections pass off without incident.
According to initial security plans, about 50 companies of Greyhounds, the elite anti-naxal force, around 40 platoons of A.P. Special Police (APSP), 12 companies of CRPF, and men from the Armed Reserved Police will be deployed on election duty, covering all 11 mandals.
“Campaigning for the MPTC and ZPTC elections will begin from March 15 and end on March 19. However, the crucial phase will be the polling day on March 21 and the counting and the results day on March 24,” Superintendent of Police Attada Babujee told The Hindu .
This apart, the panchayat election is also scheduled on March 27 and 29.
Elections crucial
“In the past, it has been seen that violence flares up around the time of local body polls, as many contestants consider winning the election a prestige issue. A lot is at stake, such as family prestige, village prestige, and most importantly, the prestige of the tribe. It has been seen that people go to great lengths including seeking the intervention of the Maoists to help settle scores,” a senior police officer said.
The Maoists have in the past tried to meddle in the elections and cause disturbance but this time around, the elections are being held at short notice, which is expected to work in favour of the security forces.
In the 11 mandals, there are 172 MPTC seats and 11 ZPTC seats, and around 300 polling stations have been identified. Of the 300 polling stations, 10 have been identified as hypercritical, 50 as critical and the remaining as LWE-affected.
“This gives an indication that all 300 stations are sensitive and LWE-affected,” Mr. Babujee said.
Technology to the rescue
Covering 11 LWE-affected mandals spread across inhospitable terrain in an area of over 6,200 sq km is a challenging task for the security forces. Apart from pumping in manpower, the security forces will be relying on technology this time to get the job done.
Drone cameras will be deployed and will be monitored by security forces from mobile command control centres. This apart, CCTV cameras have been installed at all critical junctions and strategic points. Arrangements are also being made to keep the entire ground force on a satellite communication network.
“We intend to keep challenges such as lack of road connectivity, inhospitable terrain, remoteness of polling booths and bad weather at bay with the help of technology,” said a senior officer at the ground-level.
