Reported by: Mrinal Banik

Agartala: Tripura State Election Commissioner P K Chakravarti on Thursday reviewed election preparedness and security arrangements in North Tripura ahead of the upcoming Autonomous District Council (ADC) village committee elections.

Chakravarti, accompanied by in-charge Director General of Police G S Rao, held a meeting with administrative and police officials at the North Tripura district headquarters in Dharmanagar.

Returning officers, assistant returning officers, election observers, SDPOs and the district superintendent of police also attended the meeting.

The review covered a range of subjects, which included arrangements for dispatching polling personnel from dispatch centres to polling stations, security measures, voter awareness, monitoring on polling day and the return of polling personnel to receiving centres after voting, Chakravarti said.

Police officials briefed the commission on the deployment of security forces, area domination operations, polling station security and communication arrangements.

“The commission is satisfied with the election preparations in North Tripura. Central forces had already been deployed and were conducting area domination and patrolling in different parts of the district,” he added.

Rao said the preparations reviewed during the meeting were satisfactory, while some suggestions were made regarding the next steps.

He said, “Several polling stations in North Tripura were located in remote and interior areas, where rainfall could affect the movement of polling personnel and security forces because of road conditions. Limitations in mobile network connectivity in some parts of the district were also discussed.”

According to Rao, 74 companies of CRPF, CAPF, BSF, SSB and ITBP personnel have been made available for the village committee elections. “Of these, around 12.5 companies have been allocated to North Tripura district and have already been deployed in different areas for area domination and patrolling,” Rao pointed out.

Security arrangements will continue until the counting process is completed, Rao said.

Administrative and police officials said the situation was being regularly monitored to ensure that the polling process was conducted without disruption.

The crucial polls are scheduled for September 28. VC polls are being conducted after a gap of 10 years following the intervention of the Supreme Court.