A strong contingent of state’s elite Tripura State Rifles (TSR) jawans and officers will leave the state on November 1st for assembly poll duties in Jharkhand.

Official sources said that altogether 480 jawans and officers from different TSR battalions including from 1st, 6th, 9th and 12th battalion would go to Jharkhand with the formation of an ad-hoc battalion led by the incumbent commandant of TSR 9th battalion, Alak Bhattacharjee.

Elections to the 81-member Jharkhand assembly would be held on November 13 and November 13 in two phases. The counting of votes will be taken up on November 23 along with Maharashtra.

The India Reserve (IR) battalions of TSR had earlier performed election duties in more than 20 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 decade’s old terrorism in the Northeastern state. In the IR battalion, 75 percent of its personnel are from Tripura, while the remaining are 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.