Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Security measures have been tightened in Tripura ahead of the counting of votes of the Legislative Assembly polls on March 2. The state police, Tripura State Rifles (TSR) and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have set up checkpoints across the state. Tripura went to polls on February 16 to elect all 60 members of the Legislative Assembly.
The security forces are carrying out mobile patrolling, especially in the evening and night, counter-insurgency operations and anti-narcotic drives. They are also strengthening border outposts with the help of the Border Security Force (BSF).
A senior official of the state police anonymously told indianexpress.com that Director General of Police Amitabha Ranjan is personally taking stock of the situation, monitoring the nuances of preparedness and issuing instructions on a day-to-day basis to police chiefs in all the districts to ensure a peaceful counting process and post-counting situation.
“Organisers from different political parties, leaders, candidates, local political leaders at district, sub-division and police station areas were requested to maintain peace and harmony and remain connected with the local administration and police”, the official said.
As part of the additional security measures, joint area domination, flag marches and mobile patrolling are being done with CAPF, TSR and state police personnel, especially in areas where threat perception of violence is considered higher and during the night hours.
While 400 companies of CAPF personnel were deployed in Tripura on poll duty this year, 100 of them stayed back to maintain law and order and peace until the counting process was over. The rest were re-routed to Meghalaya and Nagaland, which went to polls Monday. Tripura’s own 11,000-strong state police and TSR jawans are on duty on the ground.
The Tripura State Rifles (TSR), which was set up as part of the state armed police and later elevated to one of the country’s elite counter-insurgency forces, is conducting counter-insurgency operations in affected areas, sometimes jointly with the BSF.
Special vehicle and hotel checking, anti-liquor drives, and fixed police pickets are also being set up in sensitive areas, including towns and Agartala city, to prevent any sudden flare-up on the counting day, given that Tripura has a history of political violence centring elections in the past.
Adequate arrangements were arranged for counting centres with a three-tier security ring — state police in the outermost ring, TSR in the second ring and CAPF jawans standing in guard outside the strong rooms and counting centres.
The entire counting process and strong room management are being done under 24×7 CCTV surveillance, the official assured, adding that the police have also provided suitable security coverage to political parties and their candidates as part of the Election Commission’s move to ensure ‘zero poll violence’ in Tripura this year.
All officials were briefed in detail and quick response teams (QRT) were formed by APF and Special Striking Reserve (SSR) to deal with emergencies.
While the poll commission successfully managed to cut down on pre-poll violence and flare-ups on February 16, when Tripura went to polls, barring five “stray incidents”, the post-election phase has seen a series of incidents; 22 FIRs were lodged in different cases, 20 people were injured and one died during this phase.
