THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police and the intelligence agencies have alerted the Election Commission that in Wayanad constituency where Rahul Gandhi is contesting the election, 72 polling booths are under Maoist threat. These booths are considered as critical ones and special security arrangements will be made to ensure that the poll day passes off peacefully in these areas.
Wayanad had grabbed national attention after the Congress chief decided to try his hand in the party bastion. The security arrangements were discussed in a review meeting convened by the Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena here on Friday.
Top police officials, including the State Police Chief Loknath Behera, took part in the meeting. Meena said he was satisfied by the security arrangements made by the security agencies and added that they will leave no stones unturned in ensuring a fair and transparent election.
In the security review meeting, it was informed that more than 1000 polling booths in the state fell in the vulnerable and critical categories. Critical category refers to those booths that are under the threat of the Left ultras, while the vulnerable category denotes the ones where political violence is expected.
“The vulnerable booths were decided on the basis of the past experiences too,” Meena said.Kannur has the most number of critical and vulnerable booths. More than 100 booths in the district have been flagged as critical and vulnerable.
Meena added that the threat posed by the Maoists has been considered and the security will be enhanced.
To ensure transparency and to beef up safety, webcasting and live videography will be done in the critical and vulnerable booths. In places where BSNL has network connectivity, webcasting will be done. In other places, the proceedings will be videographed.