The Supreme Court ruling preventing convicted persons from contesting elections may prevent urban criminals form contesting elections but when it comes to dacoits, the court verdict may not apply effectively.
A number of dacoits who infest the ravines of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are neither in jail nor have been convicted even though they are more fierce than their urban counterparts.
If intelligence sources are to be believed, a number of dacoits are planning to contest the Lok Sabha elections and the SC ruling is obviously a no damper for them.
The head of the dreaded Balkhadia gang, Sudesh Patel, alias Balkhadia, is one of those who is planning to contest the general elections. Though Balkhadia has not yet decided on his constituency, sources said that he is eyeing Jalaun, Banda and Jhansi.
“We have reports that members of the Balkhadia gang are actively contacting people in these constituencies and are building up their army by enlisting people who do not have a criminal background. These are mostly the unemployed youth who are being given a hefty pay package every month to muster support for Balkhadia,” said a police official posted in the Bundelkhand region.
The UP police, it is learnt, has also contacted their counterparts in Madhya Pradesh to track down and arrest Balkhadia.
“Dacoits, generally, acquire a Robinhood image among the poor because they only target the wealthy people. They liberally distribute money among the poor and that is why they get immense support at the ground level,” said Khurshid Alam, a senior journalist in Banda.
Another emerging dacoit planning to enter the political mainstream is Pramod Kachhi who belongs to slain dacoit Ram Singh’s gang. Pramod who belongs to the OBC category, is confident of getting non-Kurmi votes as the Kurmi votes still go to sympathisers of slain dacoit Dadua.