The Election Commission of India (ECI) has banned ‘kottikalasham’ (or ‘kalashakottu’). After that, the police in the capital district have geared up to prevent any attempt to organize the customary finale on Sunday.

The event, which typically involves party workers engaging in noisy revelry to mark the culmination of a high-voltage campaign, has been prohibited in view of the COVID-19 surge.

Station house officers of the city police held meetings with political leaders on Saturday to solicit their cooperation towards the restrictions. While surveillance will be undertaken by the local police units, additional deployment will be made from the Armed Police Battalions wherever there is a possibility of crowding, official sources said.

The police have cautioned political parties against gathering in public places in violation of the ECI order that could result in the offenders being charged under the provisions of the Kerala Epidemic Diseases Ordinance, 2020, as well as the norms laid down by the ECI. The measures assumed significance in light of the violations witnessed in the run-up to the local body elections when ‘kottikalashams’ were held at several places in spite of a similar preventive order.

Also Read: Priyanka Gandhi stated that Kerala politics has become violent and is driven by tension

On Saturday, Kerala State Police chief Loknath Behra has informed that the Kerala Police is fully geared to provide all the security on April 6, which is the polling day. The state police has posted 59,292 police officials for duty.

Behra said, “481 police stations in the state have been divided into 142 sub-divisions and are under the direct control of the 14 district police chiefs. Of the 59,292 police officials, it includes 24,788 special police officers and comprises 258 deputy superintendents of police, 784 inspectors and 4,405 sub inspectors.”

There will be 140 companies of CISF, CRPF, and BSF officials, apart from the Kerala Police officials and this is the biggest deployment of central forces in any election in the state.

The polling booths are located at 13,830 places and it will have 1,694 patrolling teams and this team can reach any polling booth if a need arises in a matter of 10 minutes.

Behra also added, “Each team will have a videographer besides drones which would be put into service, especially in interior places. It has also been decided to give police protection to polling agents and those who desire can get in touch with their respective police stations. There will be a 24-hour control room at the state police headquarters.”

In a related development, the Chief Electoral Officer informed the Kerala High Court that total security has been provided at the entry points in Idukki district bordering Tamil Nadu to monitor people who are entering the state on April 5 and 6.

The officer informed the court after three Congress-led UDF candidates in Idukki came with a petition that it`s common practice for people who live in the border areas to vote in Tamil Nadu and Kerala and such things should not happen.

The entire election machinery, comprising nearly 2,000 police persons and Central Armed Police Forces personnel, will be mobilized in the Tiruvananthapuram city on Sunday. Strike forces will be stationed at strategic locations. Besides, around five vehicles of law and order and group patrol teams will be constantly on the move. With control room vehicles also deployed in various parts of the city, the police expect to bring down the response time to attend to exigencies to as short as two minutes.

In the run-up to Kerala election, contesting parties are almost done with their campaigning. Kerala has 140 Assembly seats. The term of the Legislative Assembly of the state will come to an end on June 01, 2021. The single-phase election in the state will take place on April 06, 2021 and the vote counting will be held on May 02.