Chhattisgarh Assembly Polls: 35 polling booths to be manned by women officers
Bastar fighters
In India's Chhattisgarh, around 35 polling stations in the Bastar division — known for its Maoist bastion — will be guarded solely by women commanders during the first phase of assembly polls, which begins on November 7.
Along with this, one polling station, as per the Times of India (TOI) will be under the watch of transgender officers.
A first
As per the report, female commandos of the Bastar Fighters, a special police unit in Chhattisgarh, have been handed the responsibility of manning as many as 35 polling stations.
This is the first time all-women teams will be guarding this many polling stations. A booth guarded by transgender officers is also a first.
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In almost all (6 of 7) Bastar division districts, women voters outnumber men with about 1.04 million (10.4 Lakh) women voters, as compared to 990,000 or 0.99 million (9.9 lakh) men.
Women officers of Bastar Fighters
As per the TOI report, in 2021, 451 female officers were recruited from interior areas of Bastar for the Bastar Fighters' special force — all of them members of the local tribal population.
The specialised force also has transgender officers among the ranks, nine of whom were selected last year, as per a PTI report from August 2022.
Bastar Fighters undergo a rigorous 18-month training of basic and jungle warfare training before deployment to their posts.
Which polling stations will they protect?
While it is known that they will look after 35 of the 229 Bastar polling stations, authorities, following the procedure, haven't disclosed details of the exact posts.
Talking to TOI Bastar Range, IFP Sundarraj said that the deployment was an important step towards extending "more meaningful and inclusive opportunities to women police personnel in challenging tasks."
"We have decided to hand over security arrangements of 35 polling stations exclusively to women commandos and one polling booth to transgender police personnel who have been recently inducted," he added.
He also said that they "are hopeful that it will send a positive message in society with regard to gender sensitisation and gender equality."
(With inputs from agencies)
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