A strong contingent of elite Tripura State Rifles (TSR) jawans and officers will leave the state for assembly poll duties in Mizoram and Madhya Pradesh.

Official sources said that altogether 685 jawans and officers from different TSR battalions would first go to Mizoram and then to Madhya Pradesh.

Elections to the 40-member Mizoram assembly and 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly would be held on November 7 and November 17 respectively. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 3 along with Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Telangana states. The TSR jawans after completion of Mizoram assembly elections, jawans will leave the state towards Madhya Pradesh.

The India Reserve (IR) battalions of TSR had earlier performed election duties in more than 19 states to provide security during the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

Trained in counter-insurgency operations, the TSR troopers have demonstrated excellent performance in Tripura by ending the four-and-a-half decades old terrorism in the Northeastern state. In the IR battalion, 75 percent of its personnel are from Tripura, while the remaining is from across the country.

The TSR has 14 battalions, majority of which are now IR battalions, which can be deployed in any state of the country if the Ministry of Home Affairs requires.

Official sources added that few battalions of BSF have also left the state to join election related duties in five states including Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana  through a special train from Agartala station. The border guards would be deployed in the Maoist infested areas of Chhattisgarh during election time and will return to the state after completion of election process.