More than 1000 hours of flying during the Lok Sabha elections… Salute to the spirit of the Indian Air Force

New Delhi: From increasing the reach of the Election Commission in remote areas of the country to airlifting EVMs, the Indian Air Force played a vital role in the Lok Sabha elections. Air Force aircraft operated 1,750 flights spanning over 1,000 hours. The Indian Air Force on Wednesday shared details about the help provided to the election machinery in conducting the Lok Sabha elections.

What is the contribution of the Air Force?

The Air Force said in a statement, “During the General Elections 2024, medium helicopters (MI-17 type), light helicopters (Chetak) and indigenously built advanced light helicopters (ALH Dhruv) were used extensively in the last few months.” Officials said the force has been actively involved in the task of airlifting electronic voting machines (EVMs) and deploying Election Commission of India (ECI) personnel on election duty, as was done during the last general or assembly elections.

The Air Force strengthened the hands of the Election Commission

he/she said that during the 2024 general elections, the Indian Air Force played a vital role in increasing the reach of the Election Commission in remote areas of the country and to those places where there were concerns about the safety of movement by road. This work was time-bound, as the polling officers had to be deployed at each remote polling station two days before the election date and were to be relieved on the day of polling. The Air Force said, ‘The Indian Air Force played a vital role in five out of seven phases of the general elections and conducted 1,750 flights of more than 1,000 hours.’