Security beefed up across Delhi for MCD polls
Delhi Police will deploy 56,000 paramilitary personnel and homeguard jawans, besides 33,000 Delhi Police personnel from 13 districts and other units to guard polling booths.
Security has been tightened in Delhi for Sunday’s municipal elections to prevent any violence of law and order during polling. Police personnel have been deployed across the city to check misuse of firearms, money and liquor to influence voters.
Amid intelligence inputs that some ‘anti-social elements’ may cause disruption and involve in violence during polling, Delhi Police will deploy 56,000 paramilitary personnel and homeguard jawans, besides 33,000 Delhi Police personnel from 13 districts and other units to guard polling booths.
Police personnel will be armed with sophisticated weapons and anti-riot gear during the poll across 13,022 booths to keep an eye on ‘trouble makers’.
A total of 4,748 polling booths have been marked as ‘sensitive’ and ‘hyper-sensitive’. A senior police officer said personnel will be deployed in civil clothes in and around the sensitive and hyper-sensitive polling booths.
According to police records, there are 3,284 sensitive and 1,464 hyper-sensitive booths, identified on parameters that include the number of cases registered in the area, demographic composition and the history of areas during previous polls. The booths were marked as sensitive in consultation with the election commission.
A senior officer said one head constable and three constables will be deployed at each sensitive booth. One head constable assisted by six constables will guard each of the 1,464 hyper sensitive booths . One head constable assisted by a constable will man the remaining booths.
They will be supervised by assistant sub-inspectors, sub-inspectors and inspectors. Home guard jawans and paramilitary personnel will also guard the polling booths.
“Surveillance have been mounted over criminal elements and muscle men. Special vigil is being kept at the border check posts to check smuggling of liquor, trafficking of illegal fire arms, besides transportation of currency,” said Dependra Pathak, chief spokesperson of Delhi Police.
Delhi police officers are working in tandem with their counterparts in Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to keep a check on criminals and their movements during polling. Senior police officers are constantly reviewing the security needs and chalking out plans for peaceful conduct of elections.
“The staff on election duty have been briefed about the duties they are required to perform to make it a peaceful and violence-free election. All polling booths identified as critical and hypercritical will have a two-layer security, one with state police and the other with Central para military forces,” said a senior officer.
South district tops with 585 sensitive booths and with 114, Shahdara district is at the bottom of the list. South-East district has 382 hyper-sensitive booths, the highest, whereas North-West district has the lowest with 15.
Some prominent hyper-sensitive booths are located in Tughalakabad, Jamia Nagar, Sangam Vihar in South-East Delhi, Seemapuri in Shahdara, Seelampur in North-East Delhi, Adarsh Nagar, Bharat Nagar in North-West Delhi, Karol Bagh, Patel, Chandni Mahal in Central Delhi and Najafgarh, he added.