Tamil Nadu director general of police Letika Saran, who reviewed the byelection arrangements in the Pennagaram assembly constituency in Dharmapuri district on Thursday, declared all the 250 polling booths there to be sensitive’.

From the law and order point of view, 68 booths are highly sensitive, she told TOI, adding that “even otherwise, all the booths are sensitive”. Special task force personnel had been deployed all along the district border, particularly areas vulnerable to naxal infiltration, she said.

About 800 policemen, drawn from four nearby districts, have been drafted for poll duty in the constituency. Each of the eight police stations has been put under the command of a deputy superintendent of police each.

Apart from setting up 12 vehicle check posts, 10 striking force teams have been put on round-the-clock patrol. So far, nine cases have been registered by police for poll-related vehicle violations, she said. The four-cornered high-voltage byelection to Pennagaram constituency will be held on March 27.

Meanwhile, the PMK has complained to chief electoral officer Naresh Gupta that the party’s Dharmapuri district treasurer Shantha’s husband Vadivel, working as a nutritious noon meal centre organizer at Puthukarumbu panchayat union middle school, was transferred to Pennagaram panchayat union primary school. The order was sent to Vadivel by speed post on Thursday.

PMK election committee president T Velmurugan told TOI, “The transfer order says district collector’s office has issued it on February 18, a day before the bypoll was announced. But the block development officer has signed on it only on February 19 night, after the EC announced the bypoll date. This transfer is an act of vengeance. Shantha and her family were under tremendous pressure for the past one month to quit the PMK. When she refused, her husband has been transferred to a place to which there is no bus connectivity. One has to walk through the forest for four km to reach his new place of work, which is very close to the Karnataka border.”

Velmurugan also blamed the police for targeting PMK by booking cases against party vehicles which have been issued passes by the district administration. When contacted, Naresh Gupta told TOI, “We will inquire into the complaint from the PMK.”