Major Obstacles before Police Dept. in Conducting Elections Peacefully 1)Destructive activities by Naxals 2)Dispersed population in Dense forested hilly terrain. 3)Poor connectivity (Transport as well as communication) 4)Remote location of booths in Naxal strongholds. 5)Security to Polling parties as well as voters. 6)Naxal threat against voting and boycott of Elections.

Measures taken by Gadchiroli Police to conduct Elections Peacefully  Comprehensive and Exhaustive planning of security Management  Creation of temporary base camps for security.  Awareness creation among the voters.  Exhaustive planning for accommodation of outside forces  Facilitate Surrendered Naxals for voting  Use of Choppers for safe induction and De-induction of polling parties

 Motivating Female voters.  High-Tech anti-naxal Ops  Use of available communication equipments for Polling parties  Road-opening exercises for Security of EVMs and Polling parties  Induction of training - 3 levels  VIP security.  Inter-state co-ordination. Measures : contd…

Comprehensive and Exhaustive planning of security management  Meticulous Planning for induction and de- induction routes of polling parties.  Well equipped police party with each polling party for security  Striking-Patrolling Force of 20 personnel at each base camp  Another Striking force of personnel at Sub Division level.

Creation of Temporary Base Camps  Besides 51 permanent Base Camps 32 New Temporary Base Camps were created  It facilitated safe night halt for polling parties  Decreased continuous travelling distance through dense forested terrain

Awareness creation among the public and Community Policing for confidence building  Arranging Janjagaran Melawas- community outreach program.  Village Visitations (Gram Bhet) By Police Officers.  Educating voters to instill confidence.

Exhaustive Planning For Accommodation Of CPMFs  Appointing a dedicated team for facilitate accommodation of outside forces  Effective use of available infrastructure  Vehicle and fleet management – route mapping.

Facilitate Surrendered Naxals For Voting  To motivate former opponents of Democracy to participate in Voting.  Provide help to surrendered Naxals for getting voter’s ID.

Use of 2 MI Choppers  Air Lifting Of Polling Parties Along With EVMs From Remote Hypersensitive Booths  Psychological Encouragement For Security Personnel  Life Threatening Travelling Of Many Polling Parties Avoided

Motivating Female voters  For enhancing voting percentage, Participation of females voters was crucial.  Police motivated females/ girl students through : 1)Janjagaran Melawas 2)Village Visitations 3)Navjeevan Scheme 4)Civic Action Programs

High-tech Anti-Naxal Operations  Use of Digital GPS instruments, Night Vision Devices  Use of Hand Held Metal Detectors  Well equipped Police Teams with modern arms and ammunition

Use Of Communication Equipments For Polling Party  Major obstacle in the district is Poor mobile connectivity  Communicating with remote polling booths was a challenging task  Police used their wireless sets, Walkie-Talkies, Satellite phones for communication- communication plan.  Collection and dissemination of information about polling party locations, voting percentage etc. on wireless

Conducting Road Opening (RO) exercise  For safe passage of Polling Parties/convoy  BDDS, CRPF, SRPF teams for demining the roads- RO plan

Induction Of Training In Phased Manner  Forces came from outside were unknown of the Geography of the district  To introduce these forces with terrain and Naxal Movement, training was carried out at 3 levels- 1) Firstly at Head Quarters 2) Secondly at concerned Sub Division 3) Lastly at Police Station

Providing Security To The VIPs  Naxals try to attack on VIPs (like as MPs, MLAs, Candidates, Political Leaders etc.) to create threat among the people  Meticulous planning done for providing security to these VIPs

Co-ordination With Adjoining Districts And States  Severely Naxal Affected Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh states are located at the boundaries  Well known Maad Division ( Heaven for Naxals) is situated adjacent to Bhamaragad Taluka  Naxals take advantage of this Geographical situation  Exhaustive- well planned inter-state joint operations were executed to tackle this problem

Achievements  Gadchiroli Stood 5 th In Maharashtra State In High Voting Percentage  Female percentage of voting is much more than well developed districts like Pune, Mumbai etc.  Number of Naxal Crimes during election period decreased drastically.  Local People participated in voting confidently

Sr. No.DescriptionPE 2014PE Total Percentage of Voting69.84 %65.91 % 2 Male Voting71.64 %69.70 % 3 Female Voting67.92 %62.00 % 4Gender Gap3.72 %7.70 % Comparative Analysis (Parliamentary Elections 2014 and 2009)

Naxal Strategy & Preparation  Target one small party or booth with larger group. – Base camp Deployment pattern.  Planting IEDs at booths & roads. – Training & Demining.  Threatening people against casting their votes. – Grambhets & CBMs.  Targeting political functionaries, candidates and their rallies. – security, sensitization.

We Sweat more before elections which resulted in less bleeding later. Enthusiasm in public to vote. Alert, Cautious but Aggressive. Against all odds, Against the current.

Thank you Mohd. Suvez Haque, IPS, Supdt. Of Police, Gadchiroli Official Mail ID: Personal Mail ID: Mobile No , Office: , Resi: