GUNTUR: Physical presence of police personnel and the arms they carried did not prove a deterrent for the habitual offenders during elections, but hiking the bond amount from usual Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 1 lakh in many cases brought down violence significantly.

The district police lodged cases against those indulged in anti-social and violent activities just before the Zilla Parishad elections and bound them over under sections 110, 107, 105 Cr.P.C. The number of people it bound over or arrested drastically fell from 11,046 during the general elections in 2004 to 6,431 during the recent Zilla Parishad elections.

Heartening trend

The total number of violent incidents either pre-poll, on election day, or post-elections also came down from 80 in the last Zilla Parishad elections in 2001, to 51 during this year, Superintendent of Police B. Shivadhar Reddy said here on Monday. The incidents during the 2001 gram Panchayat elections were also 63, while none has been recorded so far.

Nine persons were killed in a landmine blast in Palnadu region during the last Gram Panchayat elections. The district had recorded 134 violent incidents during the last general elections, which is much higher compared to the 51 recorded during recently-concluded elections.

"We are making all possible security arrangements for the Gram Panchayat elections and with not much of violence recorded this time we expect a violence-free poll," Mr. Reddy said.

Out of the 6,431 bound over this time more than 100 persons would forfeit their deposits made in the district treasury for obtaining bonds this time.

Losing hefty amounts ranging between Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 1 lakh in many cases had reduced the level of violent activities, the police believe.

There was no need to bind over these 6,000-odd persons as their bond for good behaviour with the signatures of two sureties taken before the ZP elections was valid for six months.

New bonds would be obtained from those who had forfeited their deposits and on whom fresh cases were registered during the elections, he added. "Provisions in our existing laws were enough to contain the violence as they were quite effective if implemented by the executing agencies," he said.

The district-level firing competitions for police personnel were conducted at the firing range here and winners selected for the State-level competitions to be hosted by Guntur district at Mangalagiri.

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