EC team seeks plan for voter safety in border belt

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, September 20

The Election Commission of India (ECI) observers have asked SSPs of all three police districts that form part of the Gurdaspur parliamentary seat to draw up a comprehensive plan to ensure the safety of people who will cast their vote at polling stations near the international border.

The police have also been asked to prepare a security plan for pre-election rallies to be held near the border.

The cops will be working under the supervision of IG (Border) SPS Parmar to develop the plans. Sensitive and hypersensitive polling stations, where there is a fear that infiltration from across the border can take place, are also being identified.

“We have been given a deployment plan. Instructions have been issued to us by the observers. We will put the plan in place in the next few days,” said Parmar.

Sources said providing security for the bypoll was being seen as a challenge as the constituency stretches from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to Dhar block in Pathankot district - an area of 150 km.

Senior officers admitted that it was a tough exercise in view of the regular inputs flowing in from the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Ministry of Defence about possible infiltration from across the border.

Soon after arriving in the constituency today, Dr Hari Om and NBS Rajpoot (general observers) and Amit Kumar Sinha (police observer) convened a meeting of the civil administration and police officers.

Gurdaspur DC Gurlovleen Singh said the authorities would keep tabs on government employees found favouring candidates or those having a partisan attitude towards any party.

The EC has decided to use the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines in all nine Assembly segments under the Gurdaspur LS seat. ECI officials say these machines are being used since some political parties have been alleging that EVMs could be tampered with.

The last date for filing nominations is September 22. The dates for scrutiny and withdrawal of candidature are September 25 and 27 respectively. Voting will take place on October 11, while the date for counting is October 15.