Mumbai Police all set for the big day

Mumbai Police have taken extensive measures to ensure that the assembly poll is conducted in a fair and free environment on Monday.

On Monday, there will be polling for 36 assembly seats from Mumbai, as well as for the 252 seats in the rest of Maharashtra. Over 40,000 policemen will be deployed on the streets on Monday, along with 22 companies of paramilitary forces, 12 companies of the State Reserve Police Force and 2,700 home guards. Special forces like the Anti-Terrorism Squad, Force One, the Quick Response Team and the Assault Team have been kept on alert. Mumbai has a total of 1,537 polling centres, of which 269 are considered sensitive.

After the date for the state election was announced on September 21, Mumbai Police began its drive against antisocial elements and miscreants. In their month-long drive, they have externed 164 people from city limits while 7,360 people have been served prohibitory notices under various sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Bombay Police Act. During this time, four people have been booked under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities (MPDA) Act.

In this month-long exercise, police have seized 511 illegal weapons, 7,152 litres of liquor, drugs worth Rs 7 lakh in 55 cases and more than Rs 15 crore in cash has been seized.

Ensuring safe elections for other citizens means Mumbai Police themselves will have to forgo exercising their fundamental right to vote. However, more than 10,000 policemen have been registered for postal ballots.

High alert was sounded in the state after the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was implemented. “During this month, total seizures made amounted to Rs 142.59 crore, of which Rs 52.70 crore was in cash, liquor worth Rs 21.54 crore, drugs worth Rs 20.71 crore and gold worth Rs 48.02 crore,” said Dilip Shinde, additional chief electoral officer.

During this month, 1,779 cases of poll code violation have been registered in the state and 33 candidates booked. These cases include 435 cases under the Indian Penal Code, 490 cases under the Representation of the People Act, 688 cases under the Arms Act, 415 cases under the Maharashtra Police Act and 64 cases of Defacement Act; 37,541 legal weapons have been seized by the police for the election period.