70 para-military companies reach J-K for poll duty

Srinagar, Oct 30 : The Centre has dispatched 70 companies of para-military forces for maintaining peace and security during the seven-phase elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

Security officials said that the centre has so far sent 70 out of 425 sanctioned companies for holding peaceful polls during first phase of polling on November 17.

The State Government had demanded for 625 companies of security forces for poll duty but due to elections in other five states only 452 were sanctioned.

Drawn from the Border Security Force (BSF), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Special Services Bureau (SSB), the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Rapid Action Force (RAF), the companies will have strength of 60 each. They will be sent to Poonch, Rajouri and Bandipora areas for poll duty.

There are 8109 polling stations in the state and they would be guarded as per their specifications of sensitive and hyper-sensitive nature.

Three-tier security will be made at sensitive places like venues of election rallies and all candidates will get security in the Kashmir valley and troubled areas of Jammu region.

The seven-phase assembly polls, starting on November 17 in Jammu and Kashmir, is expected to draw over 65 lakh voters at 8,000 polling stations in the state.

ANI