 "Bastar")
Ahead of the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, the state government will deploy women commandos at 35 polling stations in the Maoist-hit Bastar division on November 7.
The women commandos of Bastar Fighters will be deployed by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Bastar district. The CRPF plans to recruit locals for highly sensitive areas with a special emphasis on women. The recruited "Mahila commandos" have undergone training before deployment in districts such as Sukma, Bastar, Dantewada, and Bijapur. One booth will be under the watch of transgender cops.
Inspector-General of Police in the Bastar division, Sundarraj P, stated that women commandos would play a significant role in safely conducting elections in the region. Their local roots are expected to have a considerable impact.
Women voters outnumber men in six of the seven districts of Bastar division. There are 1.04 million women voters compared to 0.99 lakh men. In 2021, 451 women from interior areas of Bastar dividion were recruited in the Bastar Fighters' special force to encourage the native population to work for peace and progress of the region.
The women commandos underwent training for 18 months for basic and jungle warfare training, these young women are carrying out operations in their respective district units. The authorities have yet to disclose where the women commandos will be deployed.
Sundarraj said that it's an important step towards providing "more meaningful and inclusive opportunities to women police personnel in challenging tasks".
He said, "We have decided to hand over security arrangements of 35 polling stations exclusively to women commandos and one polling booth to transgender police personnel recently inducted," Sundarraj said.
Transgender police personnel will guard the Pakhanjore polling booth in Kanker district.
