Unprecedented security measures for final phase of Jharkhand polls

Unprecedented security arrangements have been made for elections to the 16 Naxalite-hit constituencies, including Latehar and Chatra, for Friday's fifth and final phase of voting in the wake of the Maoist call to boycott the ongoing Jharkhand assembly polls.
    
About 750 companies of para-military and state forces backed by helicopters will keep vigil in the sensitive and super-sensitive assembly segments, IGP V H Desmukh said today.
    
"An estimated 700 to 750 companies, each comprising 80-100 personnel, have been deployed at various places while the state's borders with Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa have been sealed," Deshmukh said.
    
The Jharkhand police also held a meeting with its counterparts from Orissa, as the two states share border in some areas.
    
"The fleet of helicopters has been doubled from the previous phase of the polling as 65% of the booths in the fifth stage have been marked as supersensitive," he added.
    
As many as six helicopters were deployed for air surveillance in the last phase which passed off without any major incident. All the four previous phases had been peaceful.
    
Besides Chatra and Latehar, the other seats going for polls on December 18 are - Simaria, Panki, Bishrampur, Husseinabad, Chhatarpur, Garwah, Bhavnathpur, Manika, Chaibasa, Barkatha, Jagannathpur, Sareikella, Kharsawan and Daltonganj.