A total of 400 companies of central forces will be deployed in Tripura to ensure free and fair assembly elections later this month, a senior police officer said on Wednesday.

Elections to the 60-member assembly will be held on February 16.

“Around 200 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) will be arriving here by first week of February for area domination, patrolling and flag march apart from counter insurgency operations,” Assistant Inspector General (Law & Order) Jyotishman Das Chowdhury said.

“In total, 400 companies of central forces will be deployed in the state to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections. This will be in addition to the state’s own security personnel and BSF jawans who guard the India-Bangladesh border,” the officer said.

Out of the 3,328 polling booths, 1,100 have been categorised as ‘sensitive’ and 28 were identified as ‘critical’, he said.

“A special drive for vehicle checking has been launched and so far 11,000 vehicles have been inspected,” Chowdhury said.

Contraband worth Rs 5.89 crore has been seized by security forces in the last few weeks, he said, adding, firearms were also recovered by the law enforcement agencies.

The Election Commission has already launched a ‘Zero Poll Violence’ campaign in the northeastern state.

In the last assembly elections in 2018, 300 companies of central forces were deployed in Tripura.

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