UP-Nepal-Bihar borders have been sealed to facilitate peaceful assembly election in the last phase on May 8. Even though Shashastra Suraksha Bal (SSB) has been manning the porous Nepal border, UP police have mounted extra vigil to thwart any nefarious design from Maoists and Poorvanchal criminals.
Talking to Hindustan Times on Saturday the DGP GL Sharma said "sensitive areas have been adequately covered by additional forces".
Since hired booth capturers of Bihar always played spoilsport in eastern UP in the past. The border has already been sealed. Sharma said "arrangement of striking reserve forces has also been made". Referring to communal sensitivity and Mafiosi role, the DGP said "it has been taken care off".
Like in the earlier six phases, nearly 645 companies would be deployed in nine districts Ambedkar Nagar, Faizabad, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Kushinanagar, Deoria, Mau, Azamgarh and Balia. The DGP said "mobile force has also been increased".
The additional chief electoral officer Divesh Chaturvedi said the election commission has deployed divisional commissioner Allahabad PK Jha and IG (Kanpur) Javeed Ahmad in Deoria and commissioner Meerut JS Deepak in Balia to supervise the election. Chaturvedi said five additional observers have also been posted in Maharajganj, Azamgarh, Balia, Deoria and Ambedkarnagar. He said the commission had taken this measure on reports received from these districts.
The entire eastern UP is under siege because of gang and contract war. The two are intertwined. The gangs are operating not just for murder, kidnapping, extortion and other heinous crimes but the government contracts have also become lucrative business. Gorakhpur has always been the hotbed of crimes. The gang war between Rajput and Brahmin syndicates had started in the early 1970. Apart from others the terror-stricken five years era of Shri Prakash Shukla continues to haunt the people. Shukla killed half a dozen Thakur contractors in alliance with Munna Shukla gang of Muzaffarpur (Bihar). However, after Shukla's encounter the bullets have fallen silent in Gorkhpur region. While Thakur syndicate had been marginalized Brahmin criminals had shifted to Bihar including Rajan Tiwari. Most of the hardcore criminals of Poorvanchal had merged into two major gangs of the region-absconding mafia Brijesh Singh and jailed independent MLA, Mukhtar Ansari.
