BELLARY: Plagued by incursions of rowdies from Andhra Pradesh into Bellary on several occasions, and keeping in mind past incidents of poll-related violence in Bellary, the district administration has summoned paramilitary forces for the Bellary bypoll, scheduled to be held on November 30.With three platoons of paramilitary force landing in Bellary on Thursday evening, the security has been beefed up in the bypoll area, giving a new dimension to the security set up, which was a matter of contention so far. Many leaders, including Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, had expressed feelings of insecurity in the present election scenario.Two platoons of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and one platoon from Border Security Force held a flag march in the city to instil confidence among the electorate.About 400 military personal participated in the flag march and will be deployed in sensitive areas. There are about 66 villages coming under the constituency and many of them have been identified as ‘sensitive’.Speaking to Express, DC A A Biswas said, “The paramilitary forces arrived to ensure maintenance of law and order. We want to assure people that they need not worry about security, and exercise their franchise without any fear,” adding that one more platoon from ITBP would arrive soon. “Besides this, ten KSRP units, seven DAR units, state police, district police and homeguards will man the security scenario during the byelections,” Biswas said.Sensing the volatile situation, Biswas had earlier written to the Centre seeking assistance of paramilitary forces for holding free and fair elections in Bellary. The byelection, which was caused due to the resignation of former minister B Sriramulu, has attracted attention at the national level.
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