Telangana Polls: Andhra Cops Won’t Be Deployed Due To Scope For Influence; Forces Sought From Other Neighbours

Telangana Chief Electoral Officer, Rajat Kumar, has said that the election authorities have decided to not ask the Andhra Pradesh government for police deployment in the upcoming Telangana Assembly polls due to close cultural ties between the two Telugu states.

“Police personnel from AP are Telugu-speaking, and there is a possibility of interaction with locals as they may have relatives too. Similarly, we do not deploy police personnel from Karnataka in Maharashtra and vice-versa. We have not asked Chhattisgarh either as it is also going to polls. For the Telangana polls, we have requested forces from neighbouring states like Odisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu,” Kumar said.

He has also instructed the district collectors and the election officers to take requisite action against those causing disturbances and obstruction to any public meeting, but within the bounds of law, report Hans India.

Reacting to a complaint registered by BJP and TRS that AP intelligence units are using its personnel to distribute cash, Kumar brushed it aside saying its a “different issue” and that the DGPs of both states have submitted replies saying no money was recovered from them.