Massive security blanket in Seemandhra for polls

With the fiercest electoral battle ever fought expected to take place in Seemandhra tomorrow, the Election Commission (EC) has brought all the 13 districts in the residuary state under unprecedented security blanket, deploying over 1.2 million police personnel, 272 companies of central paramilitary forces and 20,000 security personnel drawn from the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka to ensure peaceful polling.

Political stakes are high in the region, which will become the residuary Andhra Pradesh state on June 2, when Telangana will come into existence. While most of the 25 Lok Sabha constituencies and 175 state assembly seats are faced with multi-cornered contests on paper, the fight, in reality, is confined to the Telugu Desam Party-BJP combine and the YSR Congress (YSRC) in almost all the places. And there is perceptible tension following the intense contest in several constituencies, sources said.

According to State Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwarlal, the security personnel deployed in Seemandhra is three-folds more than the strength of forces during the 2009 elections. “In the last elections, we had deployed only about 100 companies of central forces in Seemandhra against the 272 companies on election duty now. Besides, were have also brought in forces from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka,” he said, adding that in Telangana, only 162 companies of central forces and 59,000 state police personnel were on duty when it went to polls on April 30.

The unprecedented security cover follows reports of clashes between workers of the principal parties in the coastal Andhra districts of East and West Godavari, Prakasham, Guntur, Krishna, Nellore and Srikakulam, besides the Rayalaseema districts of Chittoor and Anantapur. With reports about political parties bringing in money, liquor and other material to be distributed among voters on poll eve, the EC is not taking any chances and has intensified search operations.

As many as 129,930 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) have already been moved to 40,700 polling stations in Seemandhra which has a total electorate of about 30.6 million. The EC has also kept in readiness about 2,000 additional EVMs in each district to replace faulty EVMs and to avoid delay in polling.

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