Bhagalpur, April 26: Heavy police deployment, shifting of polling booths and using modern devices are some of the strategies adopted by the eastern Bihar districts police on the eve of the third phase of panchayat polls.

The police are faced with an anti-panchayat poll campaign launched by the Maoists in Munger, Jamui, Lakhisarai, Banka districts.

Some blocks in these Naxalite-hit districts would go for the polls on April 27.

The Maoists have stepped up their campaign in these areas with posters and wall writings surfacing at different panchayats falling under Dharhara and Haveli Kharaghpur at Munger on the nights of April 24 and 25.

In the posters, they have warned the villagers against going to the polling booths and also instructed the candidates not to participate in the election. Keeping in view the large-scale propaganda unleashed by the Maoists, top policemen have rung the alarm bell for their subordinates.

A.K. Ambedkar, inspector-general of police, Bhagalpur zone, reviewed the poll preparations and instructed necessary directives to the district police chiefs.

In Munger, Lakhisarai and Jamui, the district administrations have shifted some polling booths to safer zones.

According to deputy inspector-general of police, Munger range, Anil Kishor Yadav, who camped at Sono in Jamui on April 24 to conduct peaceful elections, security has been beefed up in the district. He instructed the senior policemen to monitor every development in the areas.

Earlier, the polls were to be completed in eight phases in Jamui but the state election commission then decided to complete the elections in another four phases.

Elections at some sensitive booths at Sono, Khaira and Jhajha would be completed in two separate phases.

According to Manish Kumar, district magistrate, Jamui, elections in the rural areas in the district would be completed with the deployment of CRPF, STF besides the district-armed police.

He said anti-landmine and bullet-proof vehicles besides modern equipment would be used by the forces to foil any attempt of the rebels.

“We have sufficient arms and ammunition to face any challenge. Every polling officer and the police have been told not to miss a target if they try to disturb the election process,” Manish said.

The Banka police, too, have a multiple-layered security in place for the next phases.

Kuldip Narayan, district magistrate, Munger said five polling booths have been shifted to safer places. One booth is falling under Bariarpur block while another four are under Haveli Kharaghpur sub-division of the district.

Similarly, three polling booths at Surajghara and one under Chanan block at Lakhisarai have been shifted to safer places. According to H.N. Jha, district magistrate of Lakhisarai, security will be beefed up during the polling day in all booths in the blocks concerned.

A senior policeman, on condition of anonymity said that since the deployment of central para military forces were not possible because of non-availability of personnel because of the ongoing Assembly polls in five states, police in the districts concerned have to conduct the elections with the CRPF, STF and local district police force. “We have prepared the strategies after developing our sources and also taking the law abiding citizens in our confidence. We hope we could now conduct the polls peacefully,” he said.

On the other hand, villagers in the Naxalite-hit areas apprehend retaliation by the rebels after the elections. “We are caught between the rebels and the police. After the elections, when the police would leave our villages, the rebels would come to teach us a lesson if we disobey their diktat,” said Anil Yadav, a villager at Jhajha in Jamui.