The Tripura State Election Commission on Thursday conducted a detailed review of election preparedness and security arrangements in North Tripura district ahead of the forthcoming Village Committee elections under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).
State Election Commissioner Dr P K Chakraborty, accompanied by Officiating Director General of Police G S Rao, reviewed the arrangements at a meeting held at the conference hall of the North Tripura District Magistrate’s office in Dharmanagar. The Commission had reviewed preparations in Khowai district on Wednesday.
The meeting was attended by Additional District Magistrate L Darlong, North Tripura Superintendent of Police Avinash Rai, Dharmanagar SDPO Jayanta Karmakar, Returning Officers, Assistant Returning Officers and other officials involved in the election process.
Officials briefed the Commission on the arrangements for transporting polling personnel from dispatch centres to polling stations, distribution of election materials, facilities at polling stations and the movement of polling teams back to receiving centres after voting. The procedures for depositing ballot boxes and other election materials were also reviewed.
Security preparedness formed a major part of the discussions. Deployment of security personnel, area domination exercises, patrolling, protection of polling stations and monitoring of the situation on polling day were examined.
Speaking to reporters, Dr Chakraborty said the review was aimed at assessing the readiness of both the district administration and police administration to conduct the elections in a free, fair and peaceful manner. He said the arrangements were satisfactory and expressed confidence in the preparedness of the district.
On the deployment of central security forces, he said personnel had already been positioned in different parts of the district and were carrying out area domination and patrolling.
Officiating DGP G S Rao said the preparations were satisfactory, while some additional measures had been suggested to further strengthen the arrangements. He pointed out that several polling stations are situated in remote and interior locations, where heavy rainfall and poor road conditions could pose challenges to the movement of polling and security personnel. Communication gaps caused by limited mobile network coverage in some areas were also taken into consideration.
Rao said 74 companies of CRPF, CAPF, BSF, SSB and ITBP personnel had been made available for the Village Committee elections, with around 12.5 companies allocated to North Tripura. The forces have already been deployed and are conducting area domination and patrolling operations.
He added that security arrangements would remain in place through the polling process and continue until the completion of counting.
