Overview
- The Assam environment department, which issued the order on March 19, directed about 1,600 Assam Forest Protection Force personnel to report by April 3 for duty linked to the April 9 vote and to return on April 10.
- Former IAS and IFS officers and conservationists sent an open letter demanding the order be withdrawn and addressed it to the state government and the Chief Electoral Officer.
- The letter cites Election Commission guidelines that bar using territorial forest staff for election work and a Supreme Court order from May 15, 2024 that exempts forest officials and department vehicles from such deployment.
- The signatories warn that pulling AFPF from parks and reserves would weaken patrols against poaching and timber smuggling and could endanger species concentrated in Kaziranga such as the one-horned rhinoceros.
- The government has not publicly withdrawn the directive, and The Hindu reported an Assam official called it the first use of forest personnel for polls, with the group warning the move could face court scrutiny.