In an unprecedented move, nearly 700 companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), comprising 70,000 personnel, will be deployed for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls, senior government sources have said.
New Delhi: In an unprecedented move, nearly 700 companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), comprising 70,000 personnel, will be deployed for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls, senior government sources have said.
These forces will include over 150 companies each from the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and other CAPFs.
A total of 162 companies (about 16,200 personnel) of the CAPFs have already been deployed and the remaining forces will be handed over by the third week of this month, a source told ANI, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The decisions were made by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and an internal circular is expected to be moved very soon directing these CAPFs to deploy their forces, said the source, familiar with the development, adding “it is a deployment unprecedented number of paramilitary forces (or CAPFs) in Gujarat assembly polls so far”.
“The decision to deploy such a large number of CAPF staff in the Gujarat Assembly elections is to ensure fair and uneventful polls,” another official said.
Last year, more than 320 companies (nearly 32,000 employees) from CAPF were elected for the Gujarat Assembly elections.
Elections to the state assembly will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5, and the results will be announced on December 8. Of the 182 seats in the Legislative Assembly, 89 will go to the polls in the first phase and 93 in the second.
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More than 4.9 million voters are eligible to vote in the polls. More than 51,000 polling stations will be set up, including more than 34,000 in rural areas. The term of the Gujarat Assembly ends on February 18, 2023.
The high-stakes poll battle sees a contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also looking to stage a strong contest.
The BJP has been in power in the state – Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state – for more than two decades.
In the last elections in 2017, the BJP won 99 seats, while the Congress won 77, winning 49.05% and 42.97% of the votes respectively. Over the years, the Congress tally has been reduced to 62, while the BJP’s has risen to 111.
(Except for the title, this story has no editing by HW News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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