Hyderabad: The Hyderabad police are all geared up for the GHMC elections in the city and are on a high alert to thwart the possibilities of any untoward incident.
Hyderabad Commissioner of Police Anjani Kumar on Wednesday said an adequate number of cops drawn from various police wings were already deployed as part of the foolproof bandobast plan for ensuring peaceful elections.
“All measures are being taken to ensure a free, fair and peaceful election to allow people to exercise their franchise without fear,” he said.
Meetings were held every day at different levels with the GHMC and the election authorities, and steps taken to revise strategies or bandobast depending on the need and intelligence inputs. Officials of Inspector General (IG) and above rank were made in-charges of five zones for better coordination and close monitoring of the election process.
Meanwhile, a total of 3,744 weapons were deposited by arms license holders in the city in view of the elections while the police seized two knives during vehicle checking.
Anjani Kumar said the police had booked 19 FIRs, registered three petty cases, and made a GD entry for violating the Model Code of Conduct. The Hyderabad Police has 4,932 polling stations falling within its limits, and a few divisions partly come under the Cyberabad and Rachakonda commissionerate limits. “Of the total polling stations, 1,704 are sensitive and 1,085 hypersensitive in 601 and 307 locations, respectively, in the city. Depending on the security needs, armed police personnel will be deployed,” said Anjani Kumar.
He said so far 2,785 persons with criminal records had been bound over and warned against indulging in any mischief. Unaccounted/hawala cash to the tune of Rs 1,40,87,450 was seized in the city.
“We are monitoring the gatherings near polling stations and important locations using static and vehicles mounted with cameras. The application teams will monitor the movement of all GPS-based patrol vehicles in the city and ‘Dial 100’ calls,” he said.
Social media teams were following up the complaints lodged through Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp. “The citizens should not believe in rumors and unnecessarily forward any post on social media platforms without verifying it,” he requested.
