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Patna, April 11 (IANS) Nearly 2 lakh "troublemakers and habitual offenders" have signed bonds promising not to disrupt the upcoming panchayat polls in Bihar, police said Monday.
Bihar's Director General of Police (DGP) Neelmani said that the police identified a total of nearly 2 lakh people who can create trouble during panchayat polls.
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"They were made to fill up bonds to ensure they do not cause violence," he told IANS here.
Another senior police officer said that government had initiated action against suspected troublemakers to ensure free and fair panchayat polls.
"We started the drive to identify and warn troublemakers and habitual offenders ahead of the polls," the police officer said.
He said that similar action by the state government prior to the Lok Sabha polls in 2009 and state assembly polls in 2010 had resulted in peaceful elections, barring incidents of Maoist violence.
Last week, the state election commission made it clear that if a candidate is attacked or intimidated in the panchayat polls, his rival will be named in the police report.
The commission said that all the district magistrates and superintendents of police have been directed to lodge first information reports (FIRs) against people involved in violence or intimidation of candidates during the election.
The 10-phased panchayat polls will begin April 20 and end May 28
Elections in Bihar were once notorious for violence and booth capturing. In the 1999 Lok Sabha polls, 74 people were killed in poll-related violence. About 20 people were killed in the 2004 general elections and 158 during the 2001 panchayat elections.
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