As many as 20 lakh security personnel were deployed in the seven-phase general election, rendering the exercise bigger than India’s well-known Operation Brasstacks in the 1980s, which was larger than any NATO exercise since World War II, officials said.

Operation Brasstacks was a major military exercise of the Indian Army in Rajasthan. It took place in 1986 until its execution in 1987.

The scale of the 2019 general election itself is massive and growing over time as between 1989 and 2019, the number of parties in the fray have increased over 20 times, the size of the electorate has increased by over 80 per cent, the number of polling stations has nearly doubled and the number of contesting candidates has increased by nearly 35 per cent.

“Effectively, nearly 20 lakh personnel of the police and central paramilitary personnel were involved during the election. The mobilisation of such a large scale is rare anywhere in the world. In fact, Operation Brasstacks, where nearly 6-8 lakh personnel were said to have been involved, itself was bigger than any NATO exercise since World War II,” said a home ministry official.

The extent of mobilisation of the security forces has also been massive with nearly 25 per cent of the overall strength of central paramilitary forces being deployed for this year’s election, indicating the involvement of more than 3 lakh paramilitary personnel.

However, since these officials are redeployed at various locations in different phases, the effective deployment is almost 2.35 times the number of troops actually involved.

Thus, if the 2019 general election was to be conducted on a single day, the effective requirement would be for over 10 lakh personnel. Similarly, in the 2014 election, the actual and effective deployments were of the order of 2.5 lakh and 6 lakh, respectively.

In addition to paramilitary forces and state armed battalions, the extensive participation of police personnel belonging to civil police and district armed reserve, along with home guards and special police officers in various capacities, was also seen.

Even if the participation is taken at 50 per cent of the actual strength, this would mean the involvement of nearly 8-10 lakh additional personnel, the official said.

Apart from the mammoth size of poll-related mobilisation, the duration is also considerable. This year’s election was conducted over a period of nearly 40 days (April 11 to May 19) with counting scheduled to take place on May 23.

The timely mobilisation of nearly 20 lakh personnel within 40-45 days is a humongous task. A well-thought planning with the Indian Railways, states and various forces play a key role in completing the requirement of the Election Commission, another official said.

More than 150 special trains were utilised for the mobilisation of troops. They criss-crossed the length and breadth of the country, he said.

The core duties of the paramilitary personnel deployed for election duty include instilling a sense of confidence and security among people to exercise their franchise without fear.

The additional responsibilities include maintaining law and order, preventing poll violence and guarding the EVMs.

In coordination with the home ministry - which has administrative control over central paramilitary forces - the EC has made an assessment of all aspects having a bearing on the poll process, including the state-wise and phase-wise requirement of security forces.

The home ministry prepared a deployment plan of various forces such as the CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP, SSB and Assam Rifles keeping in view their role in guarding borders, counter-insurgency operations and other commitments.