Candidates to get security cover amid intelligence threats in J&K

NEW DELHI: With intelligence inputs suggesting attacks on candidates contesting the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), the Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to provide personal security to them by asking the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to deploy over 1,600 dedicated Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel for the purpose, officials said on Wednesday.

The officials stated that intelligence agencies have reported that terror outfits are closely monitoring political parties as they announce their candidates for the polls and are planning targeted killings.

A source in the intelligence agency said that close monitoring of social media platforms reveals that terror outfits active in the valley are promoting violence with the aim of disrupting the electoral process in the Union Territory (UT). These terror outfits, mostly backed by Pakistan’s Army and ISI, have called for a boycott of the elections and instructed their operatives to plan hit-and-run attacks, the source added.