Altogether 212 polling booths of Kandhamal district have been identified as Maoist-prone areas, Odisha's Inspector General of Police, (Southern range) Susant Kumar Nath said.
Of the 637 polling booths in Kandhamal, 212 were set up in Maoist-prone areas of Daringbadi, Kotagarh, Tumudibandha and other blocks, Nath said adding 100 other booths have been identified as 'communally sensitive'.
"We are ready and committed to conduct a free, fair and ensure incident-free poll," Nath said adding that security in particularly Maoist-hit blocks has been beefed up.
A total of 167 police officials, 800 constables, 600 home guard and 'gram rakhsis', four companies of CRPF, four companies of Indian Tibetian Force, five companies of Indian Reserve Battalion, besides 66 mobile squads, nine flying squads and nine surveillance statistic parties and a copter will be deployed in the poll process.
