Kochi, Saturday 21 March 2009: The City Police are ready to meet the forthcoming general elections. It has been through all the preparatory drills and has got its personnel ready.

“The bandobast facilities have been finalised. The force will be concentrating on whether the model code of conduct is strictly adhered to,” City Police Commissioner Manoj Abraham said.

The police are expecting more door-to-door campaign than public meetings, as the candidates will be restricting themselves within the framework set by the Election Commission.

“Violations that could happen are impersonation of voters. To counter that, we are planning to use the information network that the City Police have established with the residential associations,” Abraham said.

Residents’ associations will be asked to be on the lookout for groups of strangers coming to stay in their area during the campaign phase or during the poll day. The City Police are now effectively using the information network to check crimes like house-breaks, especially during night.

The shadow policing, which has also been one of the strong points of the City Police in its fight against petty crimes, has also been intensified ahead of the polls. The City Police will train representatives of residents’ associations on how to trace impersonation attempts and reporting it to electoral officers after April 10.

In the meantime, the Cyber Cell has been geared up to check violation of the code of conduct using SMS and the Internet. The Election Commission has strictly banned the transmission of objectionable SMSs and posting of defamatory materials online.