A day long workshop was conducted in Hyderabad on Friday to discuss the functioning and features of the mobile Apps- cVigil and Suvidha which was attended by Senior State police officers and Election Commission officials. Additional DGP (law & order) Jitendar, commissioners of police, inspectors-general, superintendents of police (SPs) and other police officers attended the workshop.
Director-general of police M Mahendar Reddy talked to reporters after the workshop and informed that that they had conducted a mock polling using a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and mobile applications which is going to be introduced by the Election Commission in the upcoming state elections.
He also said that special security forces will be deployed in extremist-affected areas for smooth conduct of State Assembly elections besides taking other security measures. “Based on police request, the license holders have started depositing their weapons in view of the election code,” the DGP said. Mahender Reddy said the department had already bound over rowdy shooters and instructions were given to arms license holders to deposit their weapons at the nearest police stations.
The DGP said the training was held as per the directions from Election Commission of India on three important subjects – conduct of elections, law and order and deployment of additional police personnel. “We discussed extensively the precautions to be taken to ensure free and fair elections based on the guidelines of the ECI,” Mahender Reddy said.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Dr Rajat Kumar and other election officials were also present at the review-cum-training programme.
During the meeting, the CEO directed police officials to bring about awareness on EC apps such as Suvidha and C-Vigil for effective functioning of Police Department and explained how the Police department can utilise these electronic apps during the elections to ensure hassle-free polls. “During the training programme, the ECI officials clarified some doubts raised by the police officers,” Reddy said, adding that these trained officers will give training to respective district level officers at a later date.
The EC officials demonstrated the functioning of EVMs and VVPAT machines. The training programme also focused on protection of EVM machines before and after elections, liquor and huge cash transportation, check posts at the State borders. The DGP said that if required, the department was ready to take help from neighbouring State police for transparent elections in the State. “The EC officials explained the do’s and don’t’s during the day long training programme,” a police official said.