‘Vishwas parcha’ to instil confidence among voters soon

VARANASI: In order to combat the problems of affecting of poll process through muscle and money power by mafia-don-turned-politician and muscle men candidates, the police are preparing to distribute ‘vishwas parcha’ (faith letter) among voters in east UP also known as ‘mafia land’.
Vishwas parcha will contain the ways by which voters can be influenced or terrorized by such candidates and also the telephone numbers of senior officials to whom they can contact in case of facing threat.
IG Varanasi zone SK Bhagat said that keeping in view the ground realities of the region, the police have decided to print vishwas parcha. “On one side of this letter, we are mentioning the ways by which the voters are lured, influenced or terrorized to exercise their franchise in favour of any candidate and also force them to avoid voting. The other side of letter will contain telephone number of senior officers in order to enable voters to inform them about the musclemen candidates
The content of ‘vishwas parcha’ had been finalized and it will go for printing in a day or two. The SSPs will distribute the copies of this letter to each and every voter through police stations, he said. The distribution will start from January 15. He said that identity of voters or other making a call to senior election or police officer to inform about wrong practices of any candidate would be kept confidential.
The region had witnessed many mafia-don-turned politicians including jailed dons Mukhtar Ansari, Brijesh Singh and Prem Prakash alias Munna Bajrangi in 2012 Assembly election. Many other muscle men politicians like Vijay Mishra, Shyam Narain alias Vineet Singh, Sushil Singh and Dhananjay Singh also belong to this region. Many of them are preparing to try their luck in the election again. Their kin are also expected to jump in the fray.
With the promulgation of model code of conduct, the police have started action against anti-social elements under Goonda and Gangsters Act. Between January 4 and 7, preventive action was taken against 9,630 persons in 10 district of the zone, Bhagat said. Soon, anti-social and disturbing elements would also be issued ‘red cards’. These ‘red cards’ would serve as a warning that that they are under vigil due to their past record.