Amir Karim Tantray

The state administration is likely to retain the additional 330 companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) which were deployed in the state for peaceful conduct of urban local bodies and panchayat elections.

If the Lok Sabha elections are held as per the schedule in 2019, sending these additional 330 companies back and calling them again for the polls will be a hectic exercise and involve a huge expenditure. “We are yet to take a decision in this regard but if the Lok Sabha elections are held on time, we might have to keep these forces here. Sending them back and calling again will take a lot of time,” Dilbag Singh, Director General of Police (DGP), told The Tribune. When asked whether the state government would require additional forces, apart from these 330 companies, to conduct the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, the DGP replied, “No such exercise (to evaluate the requirement) has been done so far.”

The state administration had retained 203 companies of the CAPF, deployed for the annual Amarnath yatra, and called 127 companies more to conduct the urban local bodies and panchayat elections. This was in addition to the security forces already in the state for the counter-insurgency operations and law and order duties.

All these 330 companies, comprising the CRPF, BSF, SSB and IRBP, were sent to different districts and kept at the disposal of senior superintendents of police (SSP) at the district-level. Each company comprises 75 to 90 personnel.

Notably, Additional Director General of Police, Security, Munir Ahmed Khan supervised the deployment of forces, security of candidates and other logistics for the urban local bodies and panchayat elections.

In the next six months, the general elections are to be held as the tenure of the 16th Lok Sabha ends in May 2019. With the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly in the state, it is likely that the Assembly elections might be held within this time. The state government will again require more security forces to conduct the elections peacefully. However, this will entail huge expenditure.

Courtesy: The Tribune, Dec 04,2018