Tight Security in place for local body polls

: Tight security arrangements have been made in the western region for the coming Zilla Panchayat and Taluk Panchayat elections in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Chikkamagaluru districts to prevent any untoward incident, ADGP (Law and order) Alok Mohan said here today.
Addressing reporters, he said a strong police force of 2,500 personnel and an additional 3,000 policemen would be stationed with 2,000 home guards and special commandos during the election.
There are 2737 polling booths in the region, of which 268 are marked as hyper-sensitive, 732 are sensitive and 1,583 are normal.
In Mangaluru, 42 booths are marked as hyper-sensitive, 134 sensitive and 186 are normal booths.

Extra precautions had been made at 164 booths in Naxal affected areas and armed forces had been deployed in the region.
Of these, 61 are identified in Dakshina Kannada, 64 in Udupi and 39 in Chikkamagaluru.

These booths would be guarded by special armed units and Anti Naxal Force (ANF) would conduct routine combing operations there, he said.
On the inter-state border, the Madikeri police are co-ordinating with Kerala police to prevent anti-social elements by lining up check posts, he said.
Stringent action would be taken against anyone trying to disrupt peace during the elections, he said.
Inspector General of Police Amrit Pal, city police commissioner M Chandra Shekar, Dakshina Kannada SP S Sharanappa, Chikkamagaluru district SP K Santhosh Babu and Udupi SP Annamalai were present.