The Hindu : Simultaneous polls give police a breather

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 01, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Simultaneous polls give police a breather

By Lalit K. Jha

NEW DELHI, FEB. 29. Pehalwans (wrestlers) and musclemen might not be seen in action this time round giving a sigh of relief to the police, security forces and the intelligence agencies responsible for managing polls in Delhi which will be held on May 10.

This is because wrestlers and musclemen from neighbouring Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, who are recruited in large numbers by the contesting candidates here for managing booths in Delhi on voting day, would be busy in their own States this time.

Lok Sabha elections for seven seats in the Capital would be held along with those in Haryana, Western Utter Pradesh and Punjab, the Election Commission of India announced here today.

"This would make wrestlers and musclemen busy in their own areas thus preventing them from trying to do any mischief here," said a top official in Delhi Government after the elections were announced. In fact, at a meeting with the Chief Election Commission in second week of February, the Delhi Chief Secretary, Shailja Chandra; the Delhi Police Commissioner, K.K. Paul, and the Chief Electoral Officer for Delhi, Arun Goyal, had made a request for holding elections to these States simultaneously. It is learnt that these top officials had argued that holding of elections in Delhi on the same day along with those in its neighbourhood would make elections much cleaner and safer from the security point of view.

With Delhi Police hard pressed for manpower and because of the fact that it has to divert its force very often for VVIP securities, the request came from none other than Mr. Paul himself, officials said. In the recently concluded elections, the police had to send its forces to the neighbouring States particularly Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh to solicit information about pehalwans who were hired by the candidates here. "Still security agencies were on a high alert as hundreds of pehalwans and musclemen were hired by the contesting candidates to manage booth," sources said. Officials in the Commission said their decision was based on the feedback received from the police. "This decision of the Commission would keep the anti-social elements at bay in this election," they said.

It was also after quite some time that Lok Sabha elections in the Capital were being held in the last phase, unlike in the past when it was held in the first phase. "Normally after the first phase of elections in Delhi, we used to move to other parts of the country for helping our party candidates in campaigning. This time we would not be able to move out," said a senior BJP leader in Delhi.

However, a senior Congress leader said they would try to compensate for the absence of pehalwans and musclemen by inviting their colleagues and party workers from the areas where elections would conclude in the first, second and third phase. "Naturally, we would be requiring manpower for election campaigning and booth management. This time, the manpower would come from distant States and not from the neighbouring ones, as has been the case in the past," the leader said.

Leaders of both the Congress and BJP said the absence of pehalwan and musclemen would be felt most in the Outer Delhi Parliamentary constituency, which has the distinction of being the largest Lok Sabha seat with more than 30 lakh voters. A jat dominated area, the contesting candidates in the past relied heavily on pehalwans from the neighbouring jat belts of Meerut and Muzaffarnagar. "Similarly we would have to do away with the help of Akali leaders from Punjab, which was the case in the past," said a senior BJP leader.

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