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The Union government has decided to upgrade Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar’s security by providing him a team of 40-45 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel keeping in mind potential threats, sources said Tuesday.
According to EC sources, the CEC already has Z-category security cover which will be strengthened further. “It has been decided to upgrade his security cover after some threatening phone calls were received reportedly from the United Kingdom that called out the CEC by name,” a source said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has entrusted the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) with providing a contingent of about 40-45 personnel for the task. “A threat perception report prepared by central intelligence agencies recommended a strong security cover for CEC Kumar keeping in view his profile,” the official said.
This is one of the rarest instances of a CEC being provided a central security cover, PTI reported. The late T N Seshan, a former CEC, had a central security cover at one point.
The other two Election Commissioners are currently guarded by a small armed security team drawn from the Delhi Police.
The VIP security cover categorisations begin from the highest Z+ followed by Z, Y+, Y and X. Kumar is a retired IAS officer of the 1984 batch. He took charge as the 25th CEC on May 15, 2022. He had been appointed as an election commissioner in the poll body on September 1, 2020.
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