The Election Commission has sanctioned 33 companies of central paramilitary forces for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls in Assam on April 11.

The commission on Monday issued the notification for the first phase, in which five out of 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam — Tezpur, Kaliabor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur — will go to the polls.

Chief electoral officer, Assam, Mukesh Chandra Sahu said of the 33 companies of these forces allotted for the first phase of polling in the state, some have already arrived while others are on their way.

He said the security personnel would be deployed in sensitive areas as a confidence-building measure to ensure smooth and peaceful polling.

Of the 28,143 polling stations in the state, 1,913 have been identified as critical and 3,663 as hypersensitive.

Sahu said more forces would be sent depending on the security requirements for the next two phases of polls.

In the second phase on April 18, five constituencies — Karimganj, Silchar, Autonomous District, Mangaldoi and Nawgong — will go to the polls while elections will be held in four seats — Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Barpeta and Gauhati — in the third phase on April 23.

Sahu said a security plan has been prepared by the state police for the elections and additional director-general of police (law and order) Mukesh Agrawal has been made the nodal officer for poll security.

He said 1.2 lakh voters in the state, who are marked as ‘D’ or doubtful voters, will not be able to exercise their franchise in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

D-voters are those who have been disenfranchised during electoral roll revision for their alleged lack of proper citizenship credentials and their cases are pending with the tribunals.

The Election Commission, during an intensive revision of electoral rolls in 1997, had ordered that the letter D be written against the names of those voters who fail to provide their citizenship proof and their cases were referred to foreigners tribunals in the state. D-voters are barred from casting votes till their names are cleared by the tribunals.

Sahu also released a theme song for the polls, sung by Tarali Sarma, video clips featuring state icons such as Hima Das, Golap Rabha and Purnima Devi Barman, and other publicity materials to motivate the people, particularly first-time voters and persons with disabilities, to vote.

There will be dedicated ambassadors, called Divyang Sarothi, who will spread the message of electoral participation among fellow persons with disabilities.

Divyang Sarothi will be a local person with good connect with fellow persons with disabilities and can deliver important communications regarding the electoral process in easy and relatable manner and encourage them to actively participate in the democratic process.

Sahu said they have also joined hands with Assam State Rural Livelihood Mission to reach out to women voters.