According to an official spokesman, the two States felt the need to exchange police personnel since there was little chance of any Central assistance in this regard. Rajasthan and Maharashtra, the other two States bordering Gujarat, are ill-placed to offer help in the form of personnel since they, too, go to the polls on September 5.

Madhya Pradesh, on the other hand, is having its elections on September 11, 18 and 25, which gives the personnel enough time to travel back and forth.

However, the Gujarat government may not be called upon to send an equal number of police personnel, since the MP election for the 40-odd seats is spread over three days.

``This point is still being finalised. But the Gujarat Police has agreed to send as many personnel as the Madhya Pradesh police send here'', a senior police officer told Express Newsline.

All the 25 districts of the State will get at least a full company (that is, around 100 policemen) of the MP State Reserve Police. Vadodara (rural) and a couple of other constituencies, however, will get at least two companies, since they have only about 1,500 personnel and more than 150 sensitive booths.

Besides the personnel crunch, the rains also threaten to hamper the functioning of the official machinery during the elections, said Vadodara (rural) District Superintendent of Police Vivek Shrivastva.

However, the administration claims to have made contingency plans involving 150 wireless handsets likely to be provided free by the Industrial Training Institute 153 tractors, 45 jeeps, 16 guides and a dozen-odd swimmers to cross rivers and seasonal nullahs to access remote areas of Chhotaudepur and Kwant talukas of the district.