Special squads tour sensitive and hyper-sensitive areas, meet village elders to prevent clashes

Nanjangud – The Temple Town of Nanjangud resembled a fortress today for the counting of votes for the by-election that was held on Apr. 9. More than 3,000 personnel from Civil Police and  Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)  were deployed in the town to maintain law and order.

The JSS First Grade College on the Deveerammanahalli Village Road that leads to Ooty where the counting centre had been set up was completely blocked and barricaded. Traffic was banned on the stretch and this road alone had over               2,000 Policemen.

From the Civil Police wing, around 800 Police personnel, including one SP, one ASP, four Dy.SPs, 15 CPIs, 21 SIs, 80 ASIs, 600 Head Constables and Constables, 100 Home Guards, two CISF platoons were deputed to provide security around the counting centre and also across the taluk.

Section 144 was imposed around 500 metres of the counting and more than 25 CCTV cameras were set up around the counting centres to ensure that no untoward incident takes place. While the Civil Police teams guarded the outer parts of the counting centre, the inner perimeter of the counting centre was protected by Central Paramilitary forces.

As Nanjangud is a hotbed of caste politics and there have been clashes between caste groups before, the Police are not taking any chances this time. Apart from maintaining law and order in the town areas, Policemen have also been deployed in villages that were classified under hyper-sensitive booths. Yesterday, these Policemen had internal meetings with village heads and elders to ensure that peace is maintained after the results are declared.

Village elders and political party workers and candidates have been advised not to take out victory marches and burst crackers in public places. Candidates and supporters have been asked not to hurt the sentiments of the losing candidate by giving provocative speeches that might lead to clashes. The District Administration has appointed Special Squads to tour the constituency to ensure that clashes do not take place between groups before and after the results are declared.

Mysuru Assistant Commissioner C.L. Ananda was appointed as the Nodal Officer to oversee the security arrangements in the constituency.  Officials from Zilla Panchayat, Taluk Panchayat and Gram Panchayat have been asked to ensure peace in their respective areas.