Lok Sabha elections: Centre fears violence on results day, asks states, UTs to remain alert

A day before counting of votes for the Lok Sabha polls, the Centre on Wednesday issued an alert to the states and Union Territories regarding the possibility of violence in different parts of the country in connection with the counting of votes on Thursday.

Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress activists and workers shouting slogans during their protest against Election Commission over the issue of alleged tampering of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). Photo: Getty Images (File)

NEW DELHI: A day before counting of votes for the Lok Sabha polls, the Centre on Wednesday issued an alert to the states and Union Territories regarding the possibility of violence in different parts of the country in connection with the counting of votes on Thursday. The Union Home Ministry issued the alert in the wake of calls given and statements made in various quarters for inciting violence and causing disruption on the day of counting of votes. In a statement, the ministry also said it has asked the states and UTs to maintain law and order, peace and public tranquillity. "The home ministry has alerted the state chief secretaries and directors general of police regarding possibility of eruption of violence in different parts of the country in connection with the counting of votes tomorrow," the statement said. The ministry said the states and UTs have been further asked to take adequate measures for the security of strong rooms and venues of counting of votes. "This is in the wake of calls given and statements made in various quarters for inciting violence and causing disruption on the day of counting of votes," it said. The central security agencies have received inputs that some organisations and individuals, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and Tripura, have given certain statements which may lead to violence and disruption in counting process, an official said. The counting of votes for the seven-phase elections to India's lower house of parliament, the world's biggest democratic exercise, will take place on Thursday, bringing the curtains down on a bitterly-fought contest which the country rarely witnessed. Most of the exit polls have predicted that the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is on course to retain power for a second term, riding on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's charisma like the way he swept to power in 2014. However, the opposition parties have trashed results of the exit polls, claiming that the BJP will suffer severe drubbing due to rising unemployment, farm distress and slowdown in the economy. The voting was staggered between April 11 and May 19 in which around 67 per cent of the nearly 900 million eligible people exercised their franchise to elect 542 members of the Lok Sabha from a total of 8,049 contestants. In the 2014 elections, the BJP won 282 seats while the Congress had suffered a severe drubbing getting an all-time low of 44 seats as against 206 it won in 2009. (With inputs from agencies)