Around 80,000 paramilitary personnel, apart from state policemen, would be deployed during the multi-phased assembly elections in five states early next year.

The election commission has asked the home ministry to get ready to provide 700 to 800 companies (70,000-80,000 personnel) of paramilitary forces to be deployed in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur to conduct the Assembly polls to be held between March and May 2012.

The EC request came at a high-level meeting attended by chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi, two other election commissioners V S Sampath and H S Brahma, union home secretary R K Singh, Secretary (Internal Security) U K Bansal and other senior officers, official sources said.

The EC also conveyed that since the polling would be held in several phases, the home ministry should prepare itself accordingly and make available the security personnel whenever required, the sources said.

The highest number of paramilitary personnel is expected to be deployed in politically sensitive Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state with 403 Assembly constituencies.

While Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa saw relatively less number of violence in past elections, Manipur, which has been plagued by insurgency for a long time, may need heavy deployment of forces to ensure peaceful polling.

Stating that five lakh posters would be put up across the city and suburbs to spread the word, WBPCB officials "The message will also be telecast on TV channels and broadcast on radio."