Following former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s claims over Election Commission of India’s move to replace Punjab Police with Gujarat Police in the National Capital Territory, top sources within the Delhi Police have made some key clarifications.
Sources say that altogether 220 companies of security personnel have been deployed in Delhi, forces belonging to various agencies including CRPF, BSF, SSB, ITBP, CISF and RPF. Besides them, 70 companies belonging to Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Chandigarh, and Himachal Pradesh were also deployed for this security. This deployment in three phases events included the arrival of seven to eight companies coming from Gujarat itself.
Deployment started following the requirement of 250 companies to maintain law and order as the Assembly elections on February 5 draws close. These forces will be entrusted with flying squads, interstate border checking, area domination, securing of critical polling stations apart from providing support in counting centers and quick response teams.
A response from the police of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh is awaited, specially with the farm protests raging in the first two states and Maha Kumbh underway in Prayagraj. Kejriwal had raised an issue over eight companies from SRPF, Gujarat that were called to Delhi by Election Commission on January 13, according to Commandant SRPF, Bhachau Tejas Patel.
Punjab’s Director General of Police, Gaurav Yadav, subsequently confirmed that the state police unit assigned with Kejriwal’s security was withdrawn following directives from both Delhi Police and the Election Commission.
Then, Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi launched an attack on Kejriwal’s knowledge of the Election Commission’s protocols. “Now I understand why people call you a fraud. As a former Chief Minister, I’m surprised you’re not aware of the Election Commission’s norms,” said Sanghavi in a social media post.
He also pointed out that the requirement of security forces came from more than one state. “The Election Commission of India has been routinely ordering SRP deployments from various states. As per their request, eight companies of SRP from Gujarat were sent to Delhi for the elections scheduled on February 11,” he added, questioning Kejriwal’s statements to have selectively targetted Gujarat.
Counting of votes will be held on February 8 for all 70 assembly seats in Delhi, where polling is scheduled on February 5.
