Nellore: Although elections were held in a peaceful atmosphere except for two or three stray incidents, tension has been prevailing in some villages of Chittoor district.
Police has been continuing with pickets in 30-odd villages, sensing trouble. Chittoor SP Vikrant Patil revealed this while speaking to media persons at Chittoor on Wednesday.
He appealed the people living in these villages to keep calm and maintain peace. Mr Patil said they have been keeping vigil on trouble-prone villages. SIs and CIs are sleeping in the villages during nights to restore normalcy, he added.
Pointing to shortage of forces compared to 2014 elections and 18 per cent increase in the polling stations, Mr Patil appreciated the police and other departments for their outstanding performance during the polls despite several constraints.
The SP said that they have arranged three-tier security for the strong rooms with Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), APSAP and Armed Reserve Police Forces (ARPF). It is impossible for anyone except the district collector, SP and returning officer, to cross second-tier security.
The force will function in shifts and 100 police personnel are on duty. The strong rooms are being monitored round the clock with the help of CC TV cameras and illumination was enhanced for better visibility.
According to Mr Patil they have booked 44 cases related to the elections after model code of conduct came in to force.
Meanwhile, Tirupati urban SP Anbu Rajan also lauded all the employees and police involved in election work for their performance which led to incident-free polls. He said that they have bound over 2,300 persons before the elections and booked 38 cases during the elections.
