35,000 Cops Deployed for Third Phase of Polling n Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Police has made adequate security arrangements to ensure a smooth and peaceful voting during the third phase of polling in the state on Saturday (May 25).

A top police officer said that 35,000 police personnel have been deployed for the third phase of voting.

Six Parliamentary constituencies — Sambalpur, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Keonjhar and Puri — and 42 Assembly constituencies of the state will go to polls on Saturday.

The number of polling stations in the six Lok Sabha constituencies is 10,551 of which around 20 per cent have been designated as “sensitive booths”.

Speaking at a press conference here on Friday, DGP Arun Kumar Sarangi said: “As many as 35,000 police personnel including 121 companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), 106 platoons of Special Armed Police force of Odisha Police and 19,865 civil police personnel will be deployed in this phase of polling.”

Sarangi further said that the police department has deployed 43 Additional Superintendents of Police, 95 Deputy Superintendents of Police, 238 Inspectors and 2,160 Sub Inspectors in the six Parliamentary constituencies of the state.

“The Election Commission of India has sent an additional 20 companies of CAPFs to Odisha for the sixth and seventh phases of polling as the voting has ended in other states of the country,” the senior police officer added.

The Odisha Police has also deployed 763 mobile parties, 331 Flying Squad Teams and 343 Static Surveillance Teams to check any violence and illegal activities during the third phase of polling in Odisha.

Notably, voting for the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections is being held simultaneously in Odisha in four phases from May 13 to June 1.

–IANS