Over 30,000 personnel to be deployed in Chennai on election day

As per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India, there will be a three-tier bandobust arrangement at all counting centres.

With the curtains coming down on campaigning, the city has become a fortress with the deployment of police personnel and intensification of surveillance from Sunday evening.

“We have been taking all efforts to ensure free and fair polls. We had large seizures in terms of cash, gold, liquor and drugs due to our intensive checking. In the next two days, we will continue our efforts to ensure smooth conduct of polls,” City Police Commissioner Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal told The Hindu.

So far, over 330 cases have been booked against political parties and candidates for poll code violations and 605 cases under the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act. Nine cases were registered on charges of money distribution. About ₹44.11 crore in unaccounted cash, 50 kg of gold, 119 silver articles and 2,889 litres of liquor were seized across the city.

There are 2,083 polling stations in the city, of which 327 have been identified as vulnerable and 10 as critical.

Later, Mr. Aggarwal told mediapersons that over 23,500 police personnel from the city police and Armed Reserve, 18 companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), 10 companies of the Tamil Nadu Special Police, 3,000 Home Guards from Chennai, 1,800 Home Guards fromKarnataka and 700 retired police personnel and ex-servicemen, altogether totalling to over 30,000 personnel, would be effectively deployed on Tuesday to ensure the smooth conduct of polls in the city.

He said 50% of vulnerable polling stations would be manned by the CAPF in addition to the local police, while the remaining vulnerable stations would be manned by the Tamil Nadu Special Police personnel. There will be 792 mobile police teams to escort the electronic voting machines.

Outsiders who are not voters of a particular constituency have been asked to leave. The police will intensify checks on lodges and guest houses. On polling day, no representative of political parties would be permitted to canvass and no vehicle would be permitted within 100 m of a polling booth. No mobile phones would be allowed inside the booth, Mr. Aggarwal said.

As per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India, there will be a three-tier bandobust arrangement at all counting centres.

The strongroom will be guarded by the CAPF in the inner circle. Armed police personnel from the State will be deployed in the next layer, and the local police will guard the outer area.

A special mobile app has been developed for Google Play store to monitor the entire functioning of the 792 teams.

An election cell has been functioning round the clock at the office of the Police Commissioner in Vepery and can be contacted at 044-23452437 for any election related complaints.

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