Sahara Samay
NEW DELHI: Delhi police has started the process of identifying “troublesome” or “sensitive” polling stations for the November 29 Assembly election.
The Delhi Electoral office has asked the police to identify sensitive areas as per new Assembly boundaries defined under delimitation process.
They will then be further divided into communally sensitive places and areas from where bogus voting has been reported in the past or where situation is “not conducive”.
“We have asked the police to rope in district election officers as well as they too are working at the ground level and aware of the undercurrents in their districts. They can also better identify the polling stations which are prone to violence due to communal flare-upw or bogus voting,” a senior official at the Delhi Chief Electoral Office said.
He said, depending on the gravity of the problem, police will have to seek additional forces to maintain vigil during the election.
During the last Assembly election in 2003, while 29 polling booths had been declared “hypersensitive” and another 211 were identified as “sensitive”.
At least 35,000 security personnel including central paramilitary forces were deployed across the capital while a reserve of 20,000 personnel were on stand-by to meet any eventuality.
Like the last election, Home Guards will also be pressed into service during the polls. The police have also been asked to prepare a list of criminals including “bad characters” who are likely to indulge in bootlegging and other illegal activities during the elections.
