CEO seeks 1,050 companies of paramilitary forces in state
Between 1 lakh and 1.4 lakh security personnel, including the central forces and the state police, would be deployed during the elections
CHANDIGARH : Punjab chief electoral officer (CEO) S Karuna Raju has sought deployment of 1,050 companies of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) for assembly polls to be held on February 14. In the 2017 polls, 500 companies had been deployed, against a requisition for 727.
By an estimate, between 1 lakh and 1.4 lakh security personnel, including the central forces and the state police, would be deployed during the elections. Fifty companies of CAPF are expected to arrive on Monday.
Each company has 92 personnel and officers, with support staff and reserve personnel also included. Practically, there are 64 personnel available for active ground duty in each company. Other than the central forces, 60-70% of state police’s 80,000-odd personnel will also be on poll duty.
“There are at least 3,000 polling booths, classified as sensitive and super-sensitive in the state, of 24,689 booths that will be set up,” the CEO said, adding, “Farmers’ protest, drone attacks along border areas, the recent incident of bomb blast in Ludhiana and the alleged entry of unscrupulous persons in religious places are the reasons for seeking additional deployment.”
The CAPF may comprise the Border Security Force (BSF); the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF); the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Indo-tibetan Border Force (ITBP), over and above the state police. The number of sensitive and super-sensitive polling booths could also go up. as it would depend on the candidates that parties field, added Raju.
Fourteen assembly constituencies on the international border along Pakistan have been classified as sensitive. These are in Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Fazilka districts. Thirty constituencies touching state borders along Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan are also in the sensitive category.
17 seats expenditure sensitive
The CEO has categorised 17 seats in nine districts as expenditure sensitive. These are Pathankot in district Pathankot; Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur, Majitha; Amritsar-central and Amritsar-east in Amritsar district; Chamkaur Sahib in Rupnagar; Sahnewal, Ludhianasouth; Atam Nagar and Gill in Ludhiana district, Lambi, and Gidderbaha in Muktsar district, Rampura Phul, Bathinda and Maur in Bathinda district, Sunam in Sangrur district and Sanour in Patiala district.
Online filing of nomination papers
The election commission has decided to make arrangements for online filing of nomination papers. “We have launched a software. The staff and political parties are being trained,” said a senior officer. Nomination papers would be filed online, and the candidate only has to physically present himself before the returning officer.