Goa needs 14 companies of central forces for Lok Sabha elections

Goa: Goa is expected to deploy 14 companies of central paramilitary forces for area dominance and confidence-building measures to ensure free, fair and peaceful Lok Sabha elections, officials said on Monday. The coastal state will go to polls for two seats – North and South – on May 7 in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections. Goa has already received two companies of central forces. “We have requested 14 companies of central forces and two have already reached Goa,” Goa Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ramesh Verma told IANS.

Apart from central forces, the Goa government will deploy more than 8,000 local police in poll-bound constituencies, sources said. Senior police had held several meetings last week and also held an inter-state border coordination meeting, which was attended by officials from Maharashtra and Karnataka – bordering states. The number of first-time voters is 25,209, including 12,070 in North Goa and 13,139 in South Goa. As of March 16, in terms of voter demography, there are a total of 11,73,016 voters in Goa, of which 5,77,958 are in North Goa and 5,95,058 are in South Goa. Of these, 5,68,501 are male voters and 6,04,515 are female voters. There will be a total of 1,725 polling stations in the state, including 863 in North Goa and 862 in South Goa.