Andhra Pradesh Police conduct mock drills to gear up for counting of votes

Amaravati, May 22 (IANS) With mock drills and flag marches, Andhra Pradesh Police are gearing up to maintain peace and law and order during and after the counting of votes.

With parts of the state witnessing several incidents of poll-related violence, authorities are not taking any chances for the counting of votes scheduled on June 4.

Police in Ongole town carried out mock drills to simulate potential scenarios. The exercise was aimed at preparing police personnel to handle any law-and-order situation.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) M. K. Meena said on Wednesday that security arrangements have been strengthened for the counting of votes.

"Police pickets have been deployed. Drills and flag marches are being conducted. We are getting fully prepared," he said.

He mentioned that the Election Commission of India has already asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to retain the 25 Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) companies in the state.

On a request by the state government, the poll panel has asked the Ministry to retain the companies for 15 days after counting to control any possible violence after declaration of results.

Simultaneous elections for the 175-member state Assembly and all 25 Lok Sabha seats were held on May 13.

Parts of the state witnessed violence on the polling day and also on subsequent two days.

Taking a serious note of the violence, the Election Commission summoned Chief Secretary K. S. Jawahar Reddy and DGP Harish Kumar Gupta on May 16 to personally explain reasons for the failure of the administration to contain post-poll violence.

Palnadu and Anantapur superintendents of police were suspended and Palnadu district Collector and the Tirupati SP were transferred. Twelve subordinate police officers in the three districts were also suspended.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was also constituted to probe the incidents of violence in the three districts.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Vineet Brij Lal, who headed the 13-member SIT, submitted a report to the DGP on Monday.

The SIT identified 33 incidents of violence took place in the three districts. A total of 1,370 people were cited as accused in the FIRs.

The police have so far arrested 124 accused and issued notices to 94 accused under section 41A of Criminal Procedure Code. The SIT exhorted the investigating officers to complete pending arrests at the earliest.

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