23.5k police personnel to be aided by central forces for smooth polling

The city police will be aided by 18 teams of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), 10 teams of Tamil Nadu Special Police (TSP), 3,000 Home Guards, 1,800 Home Guards from Karnataka and 700 retired police and Army personnel, said the official briefing the media about the precautionary measures undertaken by the city police for 16th Assembly elections.

He said as many as 24 constituencies and parts of six other constituencies fall under Greater Chennai Police jurisdiction with 2,083 polling locations comprising 11,872 polling stations. While a constable and TSP personnel would be deployed in all the polling stations, 50 per cent of CAPF personnel would be posted at 30 polling stations in 10 locations identified as critical. “As many as 327 other polling locations comprising 1,349 polling stations have been identified as vulnerable. The remaining paramilitary forces would be deployed in 163 vulnerable locations, while the other 164 locations would be guarded by the Tamil Nadu Special Police and Armed Reserve personnel,” he said.

The official said the counting centres -- Queen Mary’s College, Madras Christian College, Loyola College and Anna University -- would be brought under the three-tier security system. “CAPF personnel would be deployed in the innermost layer, followed by the TSP personnel in the middle layer and local police in the peripheral layer,” he said.

There are also 792 mobile teams to escort the revenue officials carrying the EVMs to the polling stations and bringing them to the counting centres after the polling. “The mobile teams would be on the rounds during the polling day and we would track their movement with a mobile phone application and pass on necessary instructions if there is a change in polling location etc,” the Commissioner told DT Next.

He added that no party office or campaigns would be allowed in the 200-metre radius of a polling station and vehicles would be stopped 100 metres away from the polling stations.

Model code violations

As many as 371 cases of violation of the model code of conduct have been registered by the city police, apart from 18 other election-related cases and 605 cases for political campaign posters in public places. Rs 44.11 crore in cash, 50 kg gold and 119 kg of silver, diamond jewels, 2,889 litres of liquor have been seized by flying squad and city police during the vehicle checks, said a release.

A temporary control room has been set up at the CoP’s office, which headed by an Assistant Commissioner, would function round the clock to receive polling related complaints. The complaints can be reported by phone by dialling 044 23452437.