Srinagar: As Jammu and Kashmir gears up for the second phase of Assembly elections next week, a top army official on Wednesday chaired a joint security coordination meeting in south Kashmir and assured the election authorities of full assistance to ensure peaceful voting as was witnessed in the first phase.
“A joint security coordination meeting was held at the Khanabal-based headquarters of Sector 1 Rashtriya Rifles to take forward the success of the incident-free first phase of the Assembly elections in Kashmir to the other phases in December,” army said in a statement here.
The army said the aim of the meeting, chaired by General Officer Commanding of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lt Gen Subrata Saha, was to share the security related experiences of first phase held in the area of responsibility of Sector 3 and draw out the strategy for the next three phases scheduled on 2nd, 9th, 14th December in the Valley.
The final and fifth phase involve 20 constituencies of Jammu region is on 20th December.
Five assembly constituencies of Bandipora and Ganderbal districts of the Valley went to polls along with 11 other constituencies of Jammu and Ladakh region yesterday. The turnout in the first phase was more than 70 per cent.
Eighteen constituencies including nine in Kupwara and Kulgam Districts of the Valley are going to polls in the second phase on 2nd December.
The army said they are preparing to make arrangements similar to those of the first phase when the security forces adopted outstanding measures like innovative arrangements for delivery of EVMs to the inaccessible areas using All Terrain Vehicles, security of the polling staff, and sanitisation of the polling booth and adjoining areas.
The army was took measures like provisioning of area security including ‘near real time’ reaction to counter the threats, staggered movement of the polling staff and EVMs post elections and an excellent strategy for keeping the areas under surveillance and intimate vigil through multiple means, thereby beating the designs of the inimical elements.
Commander of Sector 3 Rashtriya Rifles Brig G.S Kular, who was responsible for the areas where polling took place in first phase, shared his experiences, means and methods adopted for flawless security arrangements as also the lessons drawn, for the benefit of those who will be responsible for the security in the next three phases of polling, the army said.
The meeting also attended by General Officer Commanding of Victor Force Maj Gen S.T Upasani, Inspector General of Police (Kashmir) A.G Mir, Brigadier General Staff of 15 Corps Brig Paramjit Singh, Sector Commanders of the four Rashtriya Rifles Sectors operating in South Kashmir, DIG South Kashmir, SSPs of Awantipora, Anantnag and Shopian and SP Pulwama and Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, the army said.
The army further said the joint security grid established during the first phase polling was the outcome of series of deliberations starting from the Core Group Meeting held on 1st November 1 and followed by the separate meetings for South, Central and North Kashmir between 10th and 17th November, by Lt Gen Saha and the IGP.
The strategies drawn through these deliberations were put into practice by integrating the different echelons of functioning from apex to the soldier-constable level, the army said.
Addressing the meeting, Lt Gen Saha commended the security forces for their remarkable performance towards generating an enhanced sense of security in the areas.
The Corps Commander assured the commanders of different security organisations present in the meeting that all forms of assistance will be provided for enabling the forces to put the best foot forward. (PTI)
