BHUBANESWAR: At least 415 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and 288 platoons of Odisha Special Armed Police (SAP) have been deployed to maintain law and order during counting of votes on Tuesday.
There are 147 counting centres, one each for the Assembly seats and 21 for as many Parliamentary constituencies. All the counting centres are located within the premises of 70 EVM strong rooms under the jurisdiction of 34 police districts.
There is a separate postal ballot counting centre in Ganjam district where a three-tier security arrangement has been made. One company of CAPF and three platoons of SAP have been deployed here to maintain law and order.
“At least 17 companies of CAPF have been deployed at some sensitive places including Bhubaneswar to ensure that there is no untoward incident after the election results are announced and when victory processions are taken out,” said ADG (Law and order) Sanjay Kumar.
A two-layer barricading has been erected around the counting centres to sustain the pressure of large public gatherings. Entry of any unauthorised person will not be allowed. The forces deployed at the counting centres are equipped with riot gears to meet any eventuality. A control room with CCTV cameras has also been set up near every counting centre and a senior officer not below the rank of a police inspector will remain in charge of it, Kumar said.
Nine companies of SAP, which returned recently after completing election duties in other states, were deployed in sensitive districts of the state on Monday evening.
As per the Election Commission of India (ECI) guidelines, a two-tier security has been put in place at each strong room. The first security layer or the inner cordon is guarded by one platoon of CAPF. A total of 78 platoons of CAPF have been deployed in the inner cordon of the EVM strong rooms.
Similarly, one platoon of SAP has been deployed in the outer cordon of each strong room. A total of 78 platoons of SAP have been deployed in the strong rooms across the state.
Odisha Police has also made adequate traffic arrangements to ensure smooth movement of private and public transportation vehicles during the counting of votes and victory celebrations. The SPs have been asked to fix specific routes for victory processions so that the general public do not face any inconvenience.
