Armed CRPF personnel in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Central paramilitary forces were deployed in vulnerable slum pockets in the city to maintain law and order and also to keep a tab on illegal cash transactions on the eve of polls.

Police have identified 30 slum pockets in the city as sensitive and four CRPF personnel have been posted at each of them.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has 436 recognised slums with a population of nearly three lakh. Of the 7.42 lakh voters in the city, a senior corporation official said, nearly 2.1 lakh were slum-dwellers.

“Slums have become the decisive factor in the elections here as the educated and elite have never cared to come to pooling booths to cast their votes,” said secretary of Kargil Basti Ananda Chandra Parida.

In the civic polls held earlier this year, more people came to vote from the slums than the affluent. It’s a common knowledge that huge amount of cash transactions take place in these areas. Deputy commissioner of police Nitinjeet Singh said: “There are 44 vulnerable locations under the Bhubaneswar urban police district (including the 30 slum pockets) covering 155 booths. Five companies of CRPF, along with 3,400 police personnel have been deployed to ensure a free and fair election,” he said.

The Bhubaneswar urban police district covers five Assembly constituencies — Bhubaneswar-Ekamra, Bhubaneswar-Central, Bhubaneswar-North, Jatni and Jayadev — and the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency.

The police have also deployed 40 mobile squads exclusively for the three Assembly constituencies in the city.

Nodal officer on model code violation Naba Kumar Nayak said: “All liquor shops in the city were closed at 6pm on Tuesday. They will remain closed till 6pm on April 17.”

“A person carrying unaccounted cash amounting more than Rs 50,000 is liable to be arrested. Also, liquor found from a house or office will be seized during this time,” he said.

Under the excise law, one person is entitled to keep 1.5 litres of hard liquor and an equal amount of beer at home, said an excise official.

Income tax and excise officials too are monitoring movement of cash and liquor in and around the city including the major slums.

l Bhubaneswar votes on April 17