M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, May 6: There would be no ‘cocktail’ of deployment of forces at the polling booths in the 4 phase panchayat elections in Palamu.
A cocktail deployment of forces means highly trained combatants rubbing shoulders with less trained or not trained jawans like Home Guard etc.
Palamu SP Chandan Kumar Sinha said, “We would try not to have a cocktail of deployment of forces as far as possible.”
If the Jharkhand Armed Police (JAP) is present at the booth, the SP stated that this force will not have Home Guard jawans by its side.
“Cocktail of deployment is likewise no anathema to us as we see no reason not to go for it where we perceive a mosaic of forces to be required. It will be our last choice, not priority,” the SP said.
The SP was pointedly reminded that in majority of elections here in Palamu, complaints about security forces lying idle in the Bazar Samiti at Daltonganj while a large number of booths remained without any force on the day of polling have been reported in the past.
“We assure everyone that every booth will have law enforcer. It is our QRT (quick reaction team) that will be on its toes to push off in the event of any expediency,” said the SP.
Palamu has 3,305 polling booths and 52 percent of them are in the naxal stretch.
Additional Superintendent of Police Operations B K Mishra said deployment of forces in the pre poll day, poll day and then its movement in the return holds its own strategic importance.
“We have discussed the issue of the deployment of forces at length only this Thursday.”
