Some major changes have been made to beef up poll security for Jamshedpur East constituency after supporters of Raghubar Das and Saryu Roy, the BJP-mates-turned rivals, engaged in a scuffle on Saturday.

The East Singhbhum district administration has decided to engage two special flying squads for the Jamshedpur East Assembly constituency in addition to the four flying squads already in place.

The squads are equipped to tackle untoward incidents that may crop up during the Assembly poll campaigning and also on the polling day December 7.

An instance of the intense political rivalry between Das, the BJP candidate from the Jamshedpur East, and Independent candidate Saryu Roy, was witnessed when followers of the two political stalwarts engaged in a scuffle at Raghubar Nagar in Burmamines on Saturday.

Roy had gone to campaign with nearly 50 supporters to Raghubar Nagar and the nearby Basti Nagar, two urban slums in Burmamines that have a sizeable number of supporters of Das. As soon as Roy entered the urban slums 10-15 youths started hooting and shouting expletives. They chanted Raghubar Das zindabad and Saryu Roy murdabad.

Saryu Roy on his way to file nomination papers from Jamshedpur East earlier this month Picture by Bhola Prasad

Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Anoop Birtharay said that in accordance with the Election Commission's guidelines they had engaged four flying squads at the Jamshedpur East constituency.

“But after reviewing the situation in the Jamshedpur East constituency in the light of the encounter at Raghubar Nagar on Saturday, we have decided to depute two special flying squads in the constituency. The squads will be meant exclusively for Das and Roy in addition to the four flying squads,” said Birtharay.

The SSP said a squad will comprise administrative team led by an executive magistrate and it will remain present during the campaign trail.

“The purpose of engaging special flying squads is to keep an eye on the two high-profile candidates. Moreover, campaigning will be shot on video so that no one could evade law if they indulge in any unpleasant act during campaigning. Through closed-circuit television camera footages, we can arrive at a conclusion and impartial action would be taken against those found guilty,” the SSP said.

Birtharay said they are committed to conduct the elections peacefully, and to achieve that, the administration should be impartial in dealing with the complaints that are expected to pour in during the campaigns and also on the polling day. He said the special flying squads will get cracking on it from Monday.

Chief minister Das is at present campaigning for constituencies where polling will be held in the first phase, November 30. Sources in the Das camp said he will be at his home constituency from November 29 for campaigning.

Jamshedpur East votes on December 7.