Long Term Impact of Free Registration of Cases in Jalpaiguri District in conduct of Free and Fair Elections & Handling Vote Boycott of Parliamentary Election 2009 by ABAVP (Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikash Parishad) Anand kumar, IPS Superintendent of Police, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal

LONG TERM IMPACT OF FREE REGISTRATION OF CASES IN CONDUCT OF FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS Background †AS GENERAL POLICY JALPAIGURI DISTRICT HAS ADOPTED POLICY OF FREE REGISTRATION OF CASES FROM MID 2007 †THIS HAS MAJOR IMPACT IN CRIMINAL ADMINISTRATION

‡NO COMPLAIN REGARDING BIASNESS BY ANY POLITICAL FORMATION ‡GENERAL AWARENESS THAT ANY ROWDYNESS WILL TRANSLATE INTO CRIMINAL CASE ‡INCREASED TENDENCY OF ADHERANCE TO LAW

ALL ROWDIES HAVE, THROUGH LAST FEW YEARS, BEEN BOOKED IN CRIMINAL CASES. NO POLITICAL FORMATION WANTED TO GET ATTACHED WITH CHARGE SHEETED ROWDIES. CASES REPORTED DURING LAST 5 YEARS Up to October’106433

Backdrop of vote boycott: Demands  Formation of New Parliamentary Constituency of Terai & Doars area  Distribution of abandoned land of Doars Tea garden areas to Adivasi people  Re-opening of closed Tea gardens of Terai & Doars  Construction of East-West corridor through Doars

IMPACT Large scale campaigning by ABAVP in tribal dominated area (nearly 40% of the district population) for vote boycott They contacted Chattradhar Mahato for advise for carrying out their movement Chatradhar Mahato is key member of pro maoist PCPA (Committee on police atrocities) in West Midnapore.

IMPACT  Affected 8 out of 17 police station areas i.e Malbazaar, Matelli, Nagarakata, Banarhat, Birpara, Madarihat, Jaigaon & Kalchini  criminal intimidation of adivasi and nepalis  violence including burning of houses

Pre Poll management  Registration of cases in all complaints and incidents without any exception  All accused engaged in getting bail. Awareness that being involved in cases will ultimately result in expenses for bail had a strong impact in their conduct.  Criminal case being freely registered itself was big deterrent

“Non aggressive “ approach to an extremely sensitive situation Law and order striking force at 5 places with vehicle / anti-riot gear to deal with any developing law & order situation. This was apart from PSs / OPs own law & order force.

Vulnerability Mapping  Out of 1839 polling premises, 132 were categorized as most vulnerable  Candidate’s worry list & feedback from district intelligence incorporated  Intensive patrolling, visit of senior officers to these areas for confidence building  Deployment of CPMF for area domination, polling booths and as flying squads

Management of Election day in 8 affected PSs Proper patrolling of Tea Garden (labour lines) where the fear among adivasis was maximum. Few supporters of ABAVP were standing at certain strategic place in large no. of labour lines of Tea Garden from early morning to create sense of fear.

Polling Day  Deployment of 267 sector mobiles, 50 RT mobiles & 19 HRFS  Mobile shadow zones were identified & RT static/ manpacks installed  Video recording at critical polling stations  3-tier cordoning system for counting centers

Specific steps taken by mobiles i) Writing down names of ABAVP supporters standing in labour lines for creating fear for potential voters. ii) Videography. were strong deterrent. These steps resulted in dispersal of these elements from the labour lines as they were fearing that criminal cases will be started.

Arresting ABAVP supporters in large scale was not prudent and not practical as it would resulted in massive problems in 180 kms stretch of the district. Result 1. Voting in 2nd half was massive against subdued voting in first half. 2. Overall voting – 79% of total voters.

Poll related cases Lok Sabha Election 2009 No. of casesNo. of accused Pre Poll56683 Poll day28437

Outcome  Free and Fair polls  High percentage voting despite vote boycott by strong and influential group (ABAVP) YearPercentage of vote (%) 2006 (Assembly) (Lok Sabha) 79

Implementation of MCC  Publicity of MCC through meetings conducted at PSs  MCC squads formed at Police Station, Sub Division & District level  19 cases instituted against MCC violation  Strict enforcement of Prevention of defacement of property Misuse of government vehicles/guest houses Restrictions on procession & loud speaker

Special Drive  Special drives were conducted against Known offenders involved in previous Electoral offences History sheeters, declared absconders, fugitive criminals Unlicensed arms and ammunition Illicit liquor Anti-social elements Other Measures Depositing of licensed arms and ban on issue of new arms license Naka checking Preventive action u/s 107/116/109 CRPC

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