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Kohima, Jan. 4 (EMN): Prior to the announcement of poll dates for the upcoming state assembly election, 50 out of 305 Central Police Armed Forces (CAPF) arrived in Nagaland on Wednesday to ensure a free and fair election.
The Election Commission of India has approved 305 CAPF for the upcoming election in the state. Deployment of 50 advance companies has started and arrived in the state, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Nagaland, Shashank Shekhar, told Eastern Mirror at his office chamber in Kohima on Wednesday.
Besides the central forces, the state and district police will also be deployed, he said.
It may be recalled that 281 companies of the central forces were deployed in Nagaland during the previous assembly election held in 2018.
With the creation of new districts, more manpower and more forces on the ground are required during the election in particular. The companies (CAPF) will complement the state police in ensuring free and fair elections and to maintain law and order situation, he said.
Highlighting the preparations of the CEO office for the upcoming election, Shekhar said rounds of training were held with the district administrations, election officers, returning officers and governmental agencies.
Various awareness programmes have been conducted for over a month now and manpower assessment is going on, he added.
The draft electoral roll was released and the final electoral roll (for Nagaland) is expected to be out today, January 5.
‘We have been preparing for quite some time now and we are confident that the election process will go smoothly,’ said the CEO.
The voters being the main stakeholders, he appealed to them to support the process of a smooth election by being vigilant and following the awareness programmes.
He said that citizens can take photos or videos of malpractices and upload them on the citizen vigilant app.
The public (voters) can always bring unlawful practices to the notice of the respective district administrations. This will ensure a free and fair election, he added.
2315 polling stations approved
More polling stations have been announced for the upcoming NLA election following the creation of five new districts -- Noklak, Tseminyu, Chümoukedima, Niuland and Shamator -- after the last poll.
To be precise, as many as 159 polling stations have been added, taking the total to over 2,300.
The CEO informed that a total of 2315 polling stations have been approved for the upcoming election against 2,156 polling stations in the 2018 state assembly election.
While critical polling stations have been identified in all the districts, the list may vary from situation to situation, he added.
The assessment of manpower and arrangements is currently on for the new districts. ‘Arrangements are going on in Tseminyu, Shamator, Chümoukedima, and Noklak. Niuland, though a new district, does not have a district election officer (DEO) as it has been covered under Chümoukedima. Deputy commissioners and DEOs are monitoring at the district level,’ said Shekhar.
He added that they are looking into the aspects of additional infrastructure and manpower in these new districts and that the requirements are more compared to the already established districts.
In case of manpower shortage, he said it would be accommodated from Peren district. For shortfall beyond that, it will be arranged from other districts.
‘The office is closely monitoring the new districts and is confident that everything will go smoothly,’ he added.
As for the persons with disabilities, he said ‘voting from home’ facilities will be provided to those with extreme disabilities.
‘Election teams will go to their homes and have their votes cast from home. Those not so serious will be provided with facilities at the polling booth. The election office is sensitive about persons with disabilities,’ he added.
ECI team to visit Nagaland in mid-Jan
The CEO informed that a team from the Election Commission of India (ECI) including the Chief Election Commissioner is likely to visit the state from January 13 to 15 to take stock of the preparedness for the state assembly election.
The polling date is yet to be announced but it is likely to be held next month or in March as 2018 assembly election was held on February 27.