Of the 2,194 polling stations for upcoming Nagaland Assembly election, 1048 have been identified as critical, 519 as vulnerable and 627 as normal, Nagaland Chief Electoral Officer Abhijit Sinha said while appealing to all sections of people including civil societies for creating a conducive environment for smooth conduct of the poll on February 27.
Asserting that his department has taken several measures to ensure smooth conduct of poll, the CEO told media persons in Kohima that the centre had agreed to deploy 273 companies of CRPF which would assist the state armed police and district executive force. Of the 273 companies of CRPF, 30 are expected to reach the state by February 5 and the rest will follow after Tripura election.
Sinha informed all polling stations will be manned by CRPF while state police will look after the security and the Assam Rifles will provide environmental security. Also all polling stations will be under surveillance of CCTVs, videography and digital cameras, he said adding that additional CCTVs will be installed at important border check posts and static check points for effective monitoring and surveillance.
Security will also be beefed up along the state boundaries and international border to check unwanted elements and militants, he said.
Sinha also informed that a total of 11,89,264 electorate in the state will exercise franchise in the forthcoming election.
He said Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be used in the polling stations to enhance transparency of the poll.
Stating that Electors Photo Identity Cards will be mandatory for identification of the voters the CEO asked the voters to obtain their EPIC from the Electoral Registration Officers of their Assembly constituencies.
In order to facilitate the voters to know the location of their polling stations and other details voters slip bearing the photo of the elector would be distributed to all enrolled voters by the district election officers within seven days before the date of election.
He said voter assistance booths will also be set up at some premises of the polling stations so that voters will be able to seek required information.
Sinha said an electronically transmitted postal ballot system has also been implemented in the state so as to ensure all service voters to exercise their franchise.