The Indian Air Force (IAF), that has been undertaking varied war and peacetime tasks, played a vital role in five of the seven phases of General Election-2024, by flying more than 1,000 hours and over 1,750 sorties.
This herculean task was achieved through close coordination with ECI and Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of various states through nodal officers in order to optimize utilisation of assets factoring security, weather, road connectivity, etc, a Defence Ministry statement said.
During the General Election-2024, substantial flying effort had taken place over the last few months by the medium lift helicopters (Mi-17 Variants), light utility helicopters (Chetaks) and the indigenously manufactured Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) Dhruv.
lAF has been actively involved with the task of airlifting electronic voting machines and deploying Election Commission of India (ECI) personnel on election duties, as has been carried out during previous General/ Assembly elections.
During the General Election 2024, IAF played a pivotal role in extending the reach of ECI into remote corners of the country and to places where movement by road was a security concern. The task was time bound as polling officers had to be positioned at each remote polling station within two days prior to the election date and de-inducted on the day of polling.
Helicopter assets of Indian Army (IA) and BSF were also dovetailed into the overall plan towards smooth conduct of General Election-2024.
