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Shillong, Dec 19 (IANS) Meghalaya will ask the central government for an additional 76 companies of paramilitary forces for the upcoming assembly elections, an official said Wednesday. State Chief Electoral Officer Prashant Naik, who reviewed the law and order situation in the state with deputy commissioners and superintendents of police of all the eleven districts, said the state needed an additional 76 companies of central paramilitary troopers for smooth and peaceful conduct of the polls. "We will request the Ministry of Home Affairs for an additional 76 companies of paramilitary forces for the upcoming elections," Naik said. At present, 22 paramilitary companies are deployed in the state with most of the troopers in the five districts of Garo Hills to fight the outlawed Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) rebels. The election commissioner will visit the state in the first week of January. "The election commissioner is likely to assess the situation at the district-level," Naik said. As part of the election preparedness, the first phase checking of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) is on in the state, where representatives from recognised political parties are checking the machines. The process is likely to continue for some more days. Naik said the state election department has requested 4,000 EVMs and some of the machines would be coming from West Bengal. "There will be 2,485 polling stations and about 4,000 EVMs will be required," he said. Out of these, 2,485 polling stations and 800 polling booths have been identified as sensitive and hyper-sensitive, Naik stated.
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