The Hindu : Front Page : BJP for Central forces in sensitive booths in Bihar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 08, 2005

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Front Page

BJP for Central forces in sensitive booths in Bihar

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 7. In a memorandum to the Election Commission, the Bharatiya Janata Party has suggested the deployment of Central security forces inside sensitive polling booths in Bihar and not merely for general patrolling.

The party has cited previous experience for suggesting that security forces be deployed in consultation with Election Commission observers who should ``certify'' that they were satisfied with the deployment.

Another point mentioned in the memorandum signed by the BJP general secretary, Arun Jaitley, the vice-president, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, and the election cell convener, R. Ramakrishna, was that the Commission should prohibit personal security officers attached to Ministers and others from moving freely in constituencies on the day of polling and 24 hours before that. This would prevent intimidation of voters.

Finally, the BJP wants the Commission to entrust the Central security forces with the task of moving the electronic voting machines after votes have been cast.

Party leaders here said that in the last Assembly elections in the State not more than 1000 polling booths of a total of around 25,000 had some security cover from the Central forces.

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