New Delhi: With the latest incidents of dacoit accesses during the electoral process in mind, police in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are gearing up to thwart any attempt by dacoits to influence the upcoming poll process in the two state.

On November 16, the Madhya Pradesh police executed an encounter with dacoit Jagan Gujjar, active in MP and Rajasthan, while he was entering the state to allegedly support a Congress candidate.

The dacoits, through their activities in the past had led to countermanding and reordering of polls by authorities during Panchayat, Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in both the states.

"We are taking all precautions and stepping up our security apparatus. The state police is all prepared to the problems posed by dacoits," Rajasthan Director-General of Police K S Bains told PTI over phone.

Prakash Sharma, a local freelance journalist at Bharatpur (Rajasthan) said, "The dacoits often canvass for a particular candidate during the elections. The candidate may be of his community or they do it for money. They threaten the villagers to vote for their preferred candidate or to abstain."

Karauli and Dholpur districts of the state are under the influence of various dacoit gangs operating here.

"We have been provided with two Emergency Response Teams of the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary and five companies of Special Armed Police to tackle the dacoits as they can create trouble in polling booths situated in villages and deep within jungles," Karauli (Rajasthan) SP Sawar Khan said.
Source : PTI