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Terrorist attack not ruled out
during UP polls

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

Law and order authorities in Uttar Pradesh do not rule out the possibility of a terrorist attack during the first round of polling in the three-phased state assembly elections.

"We have sounded an alert to prevent any such incidents, since the state has been on the target-list of certain militant groups," UP Principal Home Secretary Naresh Dayal said.

While as many as 1,25,000 policemen and home guards have been deployed in the 92 constituencies that are going to hustings in the first phase, special security arrangements have been made in all the "sensitive" polling centres.

About 40 percent of the 1353 polling centres engaged in the first phase of the elections have been identified as "sensitive".

A confident Dayal said: "We are keeping the law and order machinery well-prepared for any eventuality and mischief mongers will be dealt with severely."

The Election Commission, too, has sounded an alert in large parts of western UP, where polling is to commence at 8 am (IST) on Thursday.

According to UP Chief Election Officer Noor Mohammad, in the first phase around 22.5 million voters are expected to exercise their franchise for as many as 1242 candidates.

Of the key political parties, the Congress leads the way with 92 candidates in the fray, followed by the Bahujan Samaj Party's with 91, Samajwadi Party with 90 and the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party with 60 candidates.

Asked to comment on the preventive measures taken by the administration to prevent violence, Dayal said, "While about 150 hardcore criminals have been put behind bars, nearly 1.5 million people have been bound down through personal bonds. Apart from that, as many as 480,000 persons have been compelled to deposit their licensed weapons in their respective police stations."

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