Tripura State Rifles to provide security in poll-bound Jharkhand

The Tripura State Rifles (TSR), the state’s elite counter-insurgency force, as part of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), would move for Ranchi on Thursday to provide security during Jharkhand Assembly elections, an official said on Wednesday.

Voting for the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly will be held in two phases on November 13 (43 seats) and 20 (38 seats), while the counting of votes is slated for November 23.

A senior Tripura police official said that on the request of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), six TSR companies comprising 480 to 500 personnel would go to poll-bound Jharkhand to provide security before and during balloting on November 13 and 20.

The TSR troops along with the Central Reserve Police Force jawans would go to Ranchi by a special train, which would depart Jirania railway station in west Tripura on Thursday and reach Hatia near Ranchi on Saturday, the official said.

He said that TSR Commandant Alok Bhattacharjee and six Assistant Commandants would also go with the TSR personnel to lead the forces in Jharkhand.

During the Lok Sabha elections between April 19 and June 1, the TSR had been deployed for polling duties in Maharashtra, Bihar, Odisha and Himachal Pradesh.

Besides providing security during the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, the India Reserve (IR) battalions of TSR had earlier performed election duties in almost all states to provide security during the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

Trained in counter-insurgency operations, the TSR troopers have demonstrated excellent performance in Tripura in taming the four-and-a-half decades-old terrorism in the northeastern state.

The TSR has 14 battalions, the majority of which are IR battalions, which can be deployed in any state of the country if the MHA so requires.

Two TSR battalions, comprising around 2,000 personnel, including officers, have been posted in the national capital under the Delhi Police's authority since 2019 and in South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL) in Chhattisgarh since 2022.

Apart from the two in Delhi and Chhattisgarh, one battalion is providing dedicated security to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's drilling sites in Tripura.