Hyderabad sources reported that a top election official said Telangana anticipates a shortage of police personnel for the Lok Sabha polls as it is difficult to get additional forces from other states due to simultaneous elections all over the country. Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar said "We are taking all efforts to make proper arrangements but I anticipate there will be a slight shortage of uniformed personnel".
Previously during the assembly polls last year, about 19,000 additional security personnel from other states were deployed. Accordingly "During last time (assembly polls) we deployed about 95,000 police personnel for the elections, of which 19,000 were from other states. Kumar said "This time it may not be possible because Lok Sabha polls are being held all over the country and every state has its own elections".
Moreover he said they had asked for additional security forces from other states and added that about 2.5 lakh personnel, including poll officials, would be used for election duty. Apparently as per the standard formula, states should have 1.6 times ballot units in proportion to the number of polling stations, 1.3 times Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and 1.2 times control units and added the total number of voters for the Lok Sabha polls in Telangana was expected to be nearly three crore.
