BENGALURU: Indian elections, besides being an unimpeachable and definitive process of democracy, are also great unifiers. The movement of state police personnel from one end of the country to the other for election duty is a great effort in coordination and exchange of ideas among various linguistic, cultural and ethnic groups of uniformed personnel.
“Karnataka has deputed 10 companies comprising 1,000 Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) personnel to Uttar Pradesh and eight companies comprising 800 personnel to Goa for deployment during the Assembly elections there,” said Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), KSRP, Alok Kumar.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs had recently called for a meeting with all the states regarding deployment of state reserve police forces for election duty in the five poll- bound states. I had attended the meeting,” he elaborated.
He said that all Covid-19 protocols were followed before the KSRP men left for election duty. “They are vaccinated against Covid-19 with three doses, including precaution dose. Besides Covid, there was an issue of weather acclimatisation. We have ensured the KSRP personnel with adequate winter clothing and accessories,” he added.
“I told our men that they must use this opportunity to showcase the humane side of police and to reach out to people and help them cast their vote. I was happy to see that despite a language barrier, our men are doing a fine job in making people-to-people contact,” he said.
He also congratulated the Uttar Pradesh police for their hospitality. “Winters and hectic election duty apart, they did ensure that our men visit the Taj Mahal in Agra,” said the IPS officer in a lighter vein. With the first phase of elections in Western UP, which included Agra and Mathura, complete, police forces are now moving to Saharanpur for the second phase.