The Uttar Pradesh Police on Sunday said that the central government has approved the deployment of 225 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) for the state elections beginning on February 10. The first 150 companies will start arriving from Monday. The allotted districts while the rest will come after January 20.
The state police also said it had identified 95 “sensitive” assembly seats where extra precautions would be taken, adding that 29,138 were critical polling stations. Additional forces will be deployed in constituencies of Chandauli, Sonbhadra and Mirzapur districts where Maoists are said to be present.
Additional Director General (ADG, Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said instructions have been issued to the police to follow the directions of the Election Commission as the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into force with the announcement of the election schedule on Saturday. , The police have set up an election control room to contact the polling station.
Kumar said that physical verification of all the polling stations has been done and preparations are being made for crowd management at the booths. He said that every police station in the state would maintain a register on election related details.
Police have installed 2,676 CCTVs and 271 jammers in various jails to prevent jailed criminals from influencing elections. The police and state prison departments are also preparing a list of criminals who may try to influence the election. Kumar said the police had identified around 869 criminals in various jails, adding that they have also made a list of 16,237 “troublemakers”.
The ADG (Law and Order) said that 107 international and 469 inter-state barriers have been set up to prevent criminals from other states and countries from entering Uttar Pradesh. According to the police, these obstacles are being monitored round the clock with the help of CCTV.
Following the problem of telephone network, the police have decided to use satellite phones at 456 polling stations in 11 districts. They will use boats and tractors to reach the booths located at places with poor connectivity. The police have also decided to use drone cameras, video cameras, portable CCTVs, riverboats during elections. C-Plan and UPCOP app will be used to communicate with the public.
The police claimed to have seized over 7,000 illegal weapons since September 30, busted 58 factories manufacturing indigenously-made firearms, registered 5,399 cases under the Arms Act and over 5,000 people in connection with these cases. has been arrested. He also claimed to have acted on 58,650 non-bailable warrants.
During this operation, seven lakh people were asked to give bail to ensure peace, while over three lakh licensed weapons were seized for allegedly violating rules. Police said instructions had been issued to conduct verification drives at shops licensed to sell firearms.
The ADG said that during this period the police and the excise department opened 31 checkpoints along the national and international borders to prevent the transport of illicit liquor. Police said over five lakh liters of illicit liquor were seized during this period, while 1,451 spurious liquor manufacturing units were busted. Police said the authorities registered 20,262 cases under the Excise Act in the last few months, while over 21,000 accused were arrested in connection with these cases.
Kumar said that the police have decided to complete COVID-19 Vaccination of all police personnel on priority basis. The ADG said that the personnel on election duty would be provided with anti-covid kits containing masks, sanitizers and other items, they would also be provided with a dose of booster vaccine if instructed by the government.
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