6,000 security personnel to man Bihar polls

To ensure peaceful Assembly polls in Bihar, nearly 6,000 personnel from the para-military forces and police will be deployed during the four-phase polling in the state.

The Centre had earmarked 170 companies of the Border Security Force (BSF), 162 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), 100 companies of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and five companies of the Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) for poll duty, Director-General of Police Ashish Ranjan Sinha today said.

Besides, police force from Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Orissa, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, West Bengal and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) would assist the state police, the DGP said.

All the buildings housing polling booths would be manned by central para-military forces in the sensitive districts of Siwan and Gopalganj going to polls in the fourth phase.

The DGP said on the directive of the Election Commission and orders passed by the Patna High Court, about 127,000 non-bailable warrants had been executed during the past three months while 51,000 non-bailable warrants were still pending.

Meanwhile, after completing the seat-sharing exercise, the Congress and the RJD today kick-started their joint poll campaign for the coming Bihar Assembly elections, asking the voters to ensure the defeat of communal forces.

Congress general secretary and in-charge of Bihar Digvijay Singh, state party president Sadanand Singh and two RJD Union Ministers""Jay Prakash Yadav and Akhilesh Singh""started the joint poll campaign from the Bhojpur district on Gandhi jayanti, addressing meetings at Sahar, Sandesh and Dinara.

Addressing a rally at Sahar, Digvijay Singh appealed to the people to ensure defeat of the communal forces in the coming assembly poll.