Is Panki Assembly constituency heading towards pre poll, poll or post poll ugly scenes? Residents fear most and are too apprehensive of untoward scenes while police dispel all fears reiterating all will be peaceful and transparent.
The poll pitch is too queer here like Shashibhushan Mehta (from JMM to finally BJP) Devender K Singh alias Bittu Singh ( Congress) and a host of 13 other candidates are trying their luck here with a fierceness and no cordiality of candidature. Sources said the way poll campaigning is done here by the contestants leaves hardly any space for good things to remain intact for any longer.
The constituency is clearly divided between forward and backward voters and as such polarization of votes is but inevitable which is acrimonious and bitter always.
It is not that this Panki constituency has any congestion of contestants as it has 15 candidates in the poll ring like 15 in Daltonganj constituency, 19 in Bishrampur, 12 in Chhaterpur and 19 in Hussainabad. Poll aggression is the hallmark of this constituency and for this constituency’s poll violence history cannot be overlooked.
Panki constituency is known for severe communalism, intense naxalism, acute feudalism and village bossism. It has history of beating up of political workers in sheer revenge of working for the rival by the candidates.
Here in this constituency indefinite curfew was imposed when communal riot broke out. On naxalism front the soil of this constituency has been ripe for Maoists, PLFI, JPC, TPC and JJMP.
Cases of bonded labourers from here have been a record of history, which is a vestige of feudalism here. And, as regards village bossism here it still works out when an affluent of village ‘influences’ voters to vote en masse for a particular candidate. One political worker even lost his life in what was most calculatedly painted as road accident when it was a murder cried the locals in this constituency. Panki assembly constituency is extremely notorious for rumour mongering as well and all these negatives do not portend any good time here.
This constituency will see 9 helicopter dropping of polling parties and security contingents for 9 most hypersensitive booths.
There are 2 such booths here out of 324 total polling booths where satellite phone calls will be launched as no cellular network is available!
Sources said Panki’s topography is also a contributory factor towards it being ‘unhealthy’ in times like this. People of the constituency sounded more concerned about violence erupting a few days before the voting or on the day of polling which is Nov 30 or after the poll result which is December 23 when anything can happen like hurling of crude bomb, firing in air to create terror to restrict weaker sections from casting votes or even kidnapping as all these three had taken place here in the past Assembly elections.
