Roy satisfied with security arrangement

Mumbai, Feb 1 (UNI) Police Commissioner, A N Roy today said the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation Elections were held in an atmosphere of peace and security.

Addressing newspersons at the Commissionerate, he said the civic polls passed off peacefully without any major incidents except for a few cases of bogus voting.

Mr Roy said a total of nine cases were registered in different police stations across the city. Seven cases relating to bogus voting were registered at J J, Samata, Kurla and Vakola police stations.

Declining to comment further on the identities of the arrested persons pending investigations, Mr Roy said the Santa Cruz police has registered a case under the Arms Act against Nand Kumar Patil after he was caught with an unlicensed fire arm near the polling booth, while another person was arrested for distributing sarees in Ward No 49 at Kandivili.

Dismissing the Samata Nagar incident as a 'skirmish' between two persons, the Commissioner said Arvind alias Pittu Satyanarayan Singh, an activist of the Congress and Ravi Bappu Harvele of the Shiv Sena confronted each other over some trivial issues.

Mr Roy said a tight security blanket would be thrown around the 24 counting stations tomorrow to thwart any untoward incident.

Traffic and public movement in and around the vicinity of the counting stations will also be stopped as part of the elaborate security measures, he added.

The Commissioner said arrangements are also being put in place to accommodate supporters of various political parties at the counting stations. Prior permissions will be needed for all political parties to conduct any victory rallies, which will be granted on a case to case basis, Roy asserted.

UNI