Telangana polls: Heightened security at over 500 polling stations in Maoists affected areas

HYDERABAD: Additional security personnel will be deployed at over 500 polling stations in areas affected by Left Wing Extremism in Telangana bordering Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra to thwart any attempts to disrupt the November 30 Assembly elections in the state, officials said.

Election authorities, who are making all necessary arrangements to ensure free, fair and peaceful conduct of the polls, said 14 constituencies out of the 119 Assembly segments have been identified as sensitive to LWE.

Officials said there are about 511 polling stations which are identified as LWE affected in eight districts of Telangana bordering Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

“Accordingly, Central Armed Police Forces personnel will be deployed in additional numbers in those areas, in addition to the state police force. Area domination will primarily be the strategy,” Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vikas Raj said.

Polling duration would be a little different in the LWE-affected areas compared to the others, he said.

“There will be more force deployment. In these polling stations it will be a minimum of one section of the CAPF along with the local force. The deployment of forces will be in addition to what is the normal scale in other areas,” Vikas Raj said.

Asked if the authorities anticipated any threat or violence from Maoists, the CEO observed: “We have not had such incidents. So, I am quite hopeful nothing of that sort is going to happen. Of course the police is fully prepared and they are doing their intelligence-based activities and area domination so that there is no scope left from that point of view.”

“They have started making their presence felt,” he

pointed out.