As many as 23,000 personnel of the central police force (CPF) will be deployed in Tamil Nadu and another 12,000 in Kerala to ensure the forthcoming State elections are held smoothly.

This is roughly a three-fold increase in CPF deployment for the States over the 2011 polls, in and is the highest-ever deployment in the two States for Assembly elections, a senior Election Commission official said.

“120 companies are being airlifted from Kolkata to Kerala. Since May 1, most of them have already landed there and begun route marches to the interiors to give greater confidence to the voters. The forces for [deployment in] Tamil Nadu will be getting there soon as they are being sent by train and flight,” the official added. Close to 2,000 CPF personnel will be deployed in Puducherry.

Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry will have a single-phase pollon May 16.

Unlike in West Bengal and Assam, where central forces were deployed in nearly all polling booths, CPF will be made available only in ‘critical’ and ‘vulnerable’ stations in the southern States. This is because the southern States do not share a history of violence like their eastern counterparts, officials said.

Cash flow

Till May 1, authorities had seized over ₹70 crore of illegal money in Tamil Nadu, while over ₹20 crore was found in Kerala.

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