Assembly polls: About 250 CAPF, State police companies to be deployed in 5 states

NEW DELHI: An estimated 250 companies of central security and state police forces are expected to be deployed for the forthcoming assembly pAssembly polls 2023olls in five states, official sources said on Thursday.

The states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram will go to polls between November 7 and 30, and the votes will be counted on December 3.

Only Chhattisgarh will have polls in two phases, keeping in view the Naxal threat perception, on November 7 (20 seats) and 17 (70 seats).

The sources said the CRPF, the lead internal security force, will coordinate the movement of these forces and the contingents will also comprise other Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) like BSF, ITBP, SSB and CISF apart from some special police units of other states.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will deploy an additional 100 companies apart from its units already present in these states, including Chhattisgarh where it has permanently stationed about 25-30 battalions primarily for undertaking anti-Naxal operations.

The other CAPFs and state forces will form the pool for the rest of the units marked for pre-poll deployment to make it about 250 companies in total for the five states that will see elections next month, the sources said.

Some more units will be kept in readiness and will be moved around the end of October, they said.

A CAPF unit has an operational strength of about 70-80 personnel while a battalion has about 1,000 troops.