The Odisha Police has stepped up security in and around 6,282 polling stations with added vigilance in 537 vulnerable booths located in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected pockets as the state goes to the first phase of simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls on Monday, Director General of Police Arun Sarangi said here on Sunday.
To address the LWE problem, vulnerable polling stations in Naxal-affected areas have been identified. To avert possible LWE violence, four Maoist cadres have been neutralised while 17 cadres surrendered before the police. Ammunition dumps to target the security and police forces have been seized from these areas, he said.
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Communication shadow areas have been audited and identified. As many as 879 locations under the mobile network shadow area have been addressed with alternate modes of communications like Very High Frequency/Satellite Phones and runners with motorcycles, he informed.
The best possible efforts have been put in place to ensure a smooth and peaceful polling process as four Lok Sabha and 28 Assembly constituencies across the State go to polls in the fourth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections on Monday. The Odisha Police is fully geared up for smooth, impartial, free, and fair elections, the DGP maintained.
Four Parliamentary Constituencies and 28 Assembly constituencies coming under it in 9 districts of Ganjam, Berhampur, Gajapati, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Rayagada and Kalahandi are going to polls on Monday.
In all four phases, elections will be held in 37,898 Polling Stations at 30,023 locations of which 1023 Polling Stations are located in the LWE areas of eleven districts.
Interstate Border Check Posts and Inter-District Border Check Posts have also been put in place. Nine coordination meetings with neighbouring states have been held at the DGP level.