Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said on Sunday that the state police was committed to conduct the upcoming assembly elections in a fair and transparent manner.

He said that 95 assembly constituencies of the state had been identified as sensitive from the point of view of elections.

ADG Kumar told reporters that in seven phases of the polls between February 10 and March 7, 92,821 polling stations and a total of 1,74,351 polling places would be set up. He said that there was an increase of 2.24 per cent in polling stations and 18.45 per cent in polling places in comparison to the 2017 polls. Kumar claimed that physical verification of all polling stations had been done.

Kumar said that instructions had been issued for crowd control at booths. He said a separate election register would be maintained at all police stations in the state to record election related information.  Apart from this, instructions have been issued for maintenance, repair, cleaning of arms, supply of anti-riot equipment and other security equipment and tools, he added.

With regard to preventing the misuse of illicit liquor in the elections, the ADG said that 31 checkpoints had been established jointly by the Excise and Police departments on the international (Nepal border) and inter-state borders, on which the officials of the Excise department along with the police force would also be present.

He said that 2,676 CCTV cameras and 71 static jammers had been installed in various jails of the state to keep a watchful eye on the activities of the criminals lodged in the jails.

Kumar said that 275 such criminals had been identified in the districts and 869 detained in jails who could indirectly disturb the election, hence their activities were being monitored.

The ADG said that 95 assembly constituencies of Uttar Pradesh had been marked sensitive for various reasons at the initial stage in view of the elections. He said that seven districts of Uttar Pradesh namely Pilibhit, Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Bahraich, Balrampur, Shravasti, Lakhimpur Kheri were bordered by Nepal and 14 assembly constituencies of these districts were adjacent to Nepal border while the borders of 30 districts of UP were connected to nine other states.

He said that for effective control of criminals and illegal smuggling, 107 check posts would be set up on the international border and 469 on the inter-state border, where regular checks would be conducted 24 hours a day by deploying police force in three shifts and installing CCTV cameras. He said that Covid protocol would be followed.

The ADG said that it was a challenge for the police to conduct the assembly elections peacefully in a fair manner and the police would ensure it with dedication, integrity, hard work, available resources and new technology.