Andhra Pradesh tightens security ahead of May 29 by-polls

Hyderabad, May 28 : Andhra Pradesh Government has tightened security ahead of Thursdays' by-elections to four Lok Sabha and 18 Assembly seats.

Over 63,000 policemen, including Armed Reserve Police personnel, have been deployed on election duty, Director General of Police (DGP) SSP Yadav told reporters in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

He informed that a total of 965 villages have been identified as hyper-sensitive, 1,683 as sensitive and 1,025 as extremist-affected and inaccessible villages out of the 4,965 villages in the constituencies going to polls.

Besides providing 800 cellphones to senior-level police officers and 5,558 Very High Frequency sets to facilitate uninterrupted radio communication to the police personnel on election duty, 958 mobile teams, 302 striking forces and 148 special striking forces have been set up, he said.

Yadav said 508 cases of pre-election troubles have been registered so far in the districts where by-elections are being held out of which 123 cases were booked for violation of the election code, 33 for pre-poll violence and 352 registered under enforcement work.

"We have information that some Naxalites who had surrendered, have joined political parties and working for them. As free citizens they have freedom. Police will not interfere unless there is a problem," he added.

Except Therlam Assembly constituency which is in Vizianagaram Coastal District, the four Lok Sabha and 17 Assembly constituencies are in Telangana region.

ANI