ISLAMABAD – As many as three lakh paramilitary personnel along with over 20lakh state police officials and home guards were deployed for theseven-phase Lok Sabha election in the country, officials said Monday.

The Home Ministry officials said deployment of such a large number ofsecurity personnel in the 2019 general election was the highest ever inIndia.

For the current parliamentary election, the Home Ministry has mobilised3,000 companies of paramilitary forces comprising more than 3,00,000personnel across 36 states and Union Territories.

This is in addition to the components of the state armed police, IndiaReserve (IR) battalions and home guards, which together could be around 20lakh, an official, directly involved in the mobilisation of the troops,said. The total sanctioned strength of India’s state police forces isaround 21 lakh and paramilitary is around 10 lakh.

As the phases were getting over, paramilitary troops were being moved fromone state to the other, the official said. The core duties of theparamilitary personnel deployed for election duty include instilling asense of confidence and security among people to exercise their franchisefreely without any fear.

The additional responsibilities include maintaining law and order,preventing poll violence and guarding the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).