Hyderabad: Conducting free and fair polls in 14 out of total of 119 assembly segments, which fall in the Maoist red zone and marked as Left Wing Extremism-infested areas in several sensitive areas in bordering, especially those bordering Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra has become one of the priority jobs of Election Commission of India this November 30, the day Telangana goes to polls.
Officials said those sensitive areas will be put under a security blanket with the deployment of personnel in additional numbers in over 500 polling stations in Left Wing Extremism-affected areas in the state.
Officials said there are about 511 polling stations that 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 told news agency PTI.
According to him, polling duration would be a little different in the LWE-affected areas compared to the others.
Raj continued, "There will be more force deployment. In these polling stations, there 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."
Asked if the authorities perceived any threat or violence from Maoists, the CEO said, "We have not had such incidents. So, I am quite hopeful nothing of that sort is going to happen. Of course, the police are 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."
He further said as many as 100 companies of central forces have arrived in the state till now and they have been deployed based on the requirement to the check posts and various teams and they are conducting flag marches.
"They have started making their presence felt," he pointed out. Raj said about 10,000 of the 35,000-odd polling stations across the state have been identified as 'critical.'
"This is a dynamic number and it may change based on how the situation unfolds closer to the election. The exercise to identify sensitive and hyper-sensitive constituencies is underway," the CEO added.
On the general preparations for the elections, the CEO said they were primarily focusing on statutory activities that lead up to the election.
"The Returning Officers are ready to receive nominations once the notification is issued. And, the requisite manpower like presiding officers and polling officers is also getting ready," he said.
"This time we are going to have Internet Protocol-based cameras in every check post and also with every flying squad so whatever is being done by them is watched centrally from the control room. We have invited the political parties to inspect the system and see for themselves how unbiased the entire process is," the CEO said.
On the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), Raj said the Commission has been focusing on enforcement since June and 21 departments of Central and state governments have been pressed into service. Focus areas have been defined for each department and they were working in close coordination.
