About 25K security forces to be deployed in 5 states for assembly polls

An estimated 250 companies of central security and state police forces are expected to be deployed for the forthcoming assembly polls in five states, official sources said on Thursday.

The states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram will go to polls between November 7 and 30, and the votes will be counted on December 3.

Only Chhattisgarh will have polls in two phases, keeping in view the Maoist threat perception, on November 7 (20 seats) and 17 (70 seats).

The sources said the Central Reserve Police Force, the lead internal security force, will coordinate the movement of these forces and the contingents will also comprise other Central Armed Police Forces like Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, SSB and Central Industrial Security Force apart from some special police units of other states.

The Central Reserve Police Force will deploy an additional 100 companies apart from its units already present in these states, including Chhattisgarh where it has permanently stationed about 25-30 battalions primarily for undertaking anti-Maoist operations.

The other CAPFs and state forces will form the pool for the rest of the units marked for pre-poll deployment to make it about 250 companies in total for the five states that will see elections next month, the sources said.

Some more units will be kept in readiness and will be moved around the end of October, they said.

A CAPF unit has an operational strength of about 70-80 personnel while a battalion has about 1,000 troops.