State polls: EC meet to discuss border security

The Election Commission of India will assess the law and order situation in the districts bordering five states where Assembly elections have been announced.

At a meeting of top officials from all such states called on October 30 in Delhi,it will look into the requirement of surveillance along the borders and issue necessary directives in this regard.

The Assembly elections are going to be held in Delhi,Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh and Mizoram and UP shares boundaries with all these states except Mizoram.

UP districts located along the border of Madhya Pradesh include Sonbhadra,Mirzapur,Allahabad,Chitrakoot,Mahoba,Lalitpur,Jhansi and Jalaun. Sonbhadra also shares its border with Chhattisgarh. Ghaziabad,Gautam Buddha Nagar and Baghpat districts touch Delhi borders while Agra shares its border with Rajasthan.

The Commission has called UPs Chief Secretary,Chief Electoral Officer,Director General of Police (DGP) and Principal Secretary (Home) for the meeting with information on vulnerable points,presence of criminals and disturbing elements in these bordering districts.

UP Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha will hold a meeting with Home Department officials Thursday regarding preparations of the EC’s meeting on these points.

The Election Commission has called the meeting to discuss the possibility of crisscrossing of criminal elements and money mafias,movement of unaccounted cash,illegal arms and liquor from UP districts to poll-bound states during the polls, said UP CEO Umesh Sinha.

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Officials said the meeting intends to chart out strategies for surveillance at the borders by establishment of check posts and barriers and deployment of mobile squads for checking the movement of liquor,cash and anti-social elements during the polls.

On the EC directives,district magistrates and the superintendents of police of the bordering districts have already held meeting with their counterparts in neighbouring poll-bound states to chalk out strategy for sealing of the borders on poll day.

Those arrangements would come up at the border points from the date of notification of elections that is due on November 1 in Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram,November 5 in Rajasthan and November 9 in Delhi. In Chhattisgarh,poll notification for 18 constituencies have been issued on October 18 while notification for other 72 constituencies will be issued on October 25.

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