Telangana polls: 20,000 Central forces to arrive in State next week

HYDERABAD: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to deploy around 20,000 personnel from Central paramilitary forces to prevent any untoward incident during the Assembly elections in Telangana.

As many as 20,000 personnel from Central paramilitary forces from 100 companies will arrive in the State in the next two days. Each company will have 60-80 personnel from the Assam Rifles, Borders Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo Tibetan Border Police, National Security Guards and Sashastra Seema Bal.

All these personnel will coordinate with the Telangana Police and exercise their duties during the polls. The Central paramilitary forces will arrange temporary security check camps in crucial areas, apart from arranging similar camps near the State borders to curtail unaccounted cash and illegal transportation of liquor. Preliminarily, these forces will organise patrols in a phased manner in problematic areas to dispel fear among voters through organising flag marches.

The Central paramilitary forces will also identify polling centres in problematic areas and exercise their duties independently. In places which are not problematic, the personnel will coordinate with local police to take care of bandobast duties. Apart from that, the personnel will take over control of polling stations before the voting date and strong rooms where the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be stored.