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Elections and crime
 It
is common knowledge that in India, politics has been criminalised. The
involvement of criminals in politics and the nexus between politicians and
criminals has become the order of Indian democracy. But do our Indian elections
have any correlation with crime? A close analysis of the crime rate during the
election period indicates the fact the general elections definitely have an
impact on the crime rate.
The crime rate on the outskirts
of Chennai reveals an average of 65 crime occurrences per month. But during the
election month, i.e., during April and the first week of May, the rate has come
down considerably and it was only half the normal crime rate. On analysis, the
rate available with the Chennai City Police also reveals a considerable
reduction during the month of the election period.
What
is the reason for the fall of crime rate during the election period? What is the
correlation between the crime rate and elections? A close analysis of the
subject reveals that during the period of the election, the policemen are busy
with their election work and due to that they could not register all the
criminal cases which have been reported and so, naturally, there would be a fall
in the official crime graph.
But this alone cannot be the
main reason for the fall in the crime graph during the election period. It has
been ascertained that the criminals have been busy with electioneering for
various political parties. A criminal revealed that as soon as election work
starts, they could earn at least Rs 100 to Rs 150 per day apart from three meals
a day.
If they attend the election
meeting of important political VIPs, they are given Rs 150 per day, besides a
bundle of biryani. Some of them drive autorickshaws for political parties, drive
the cycles with party flags, doing other sorts of allied election works like
door-to-door canvassing, pasting election posters, etc., for which they are
assured of a reasonable daily wage. An incident had occurred to substantiate the
truth.
 On
the outskirts of Chennai, a house burglary had occurred in which a lot of cash
and gold jewellery were reported to have been stolen. The thief had also taken
away the cellphone of the house-owner. A few days after this, the policemen
contacted the cell number and the criminal responded to the call. But he did not
reveal where he was hiding.
When the policemen traced the
number, it was identified that the criminal was in Chidambaram. Later, it was
ascertained that he was involved in electioneering work in the constituency,
canvassing for a political party for daily wages.
Even violent criminals like
gangsters and rowdies, who used to involve in robberies and violent crimes, are
usually involved in “work” for political parties to create violence and
indulge in bogus voting at the time of polling.
Frequent
elections are considered bad for the nation as they involve heavy expenditure to
the State exchequer. As far as crime occurrences are concerned, frequent
elections appear to be good for society, as they curtail crime occurrences
considerably. Also, another notable feature of this aspect is that when the
criminals get three meals a day and earn some money every day, they give up
their criminal activities and involve in election work.
So, if society gives them a
permanent vocation for these criminals to make a living, it is most likely that
at least half of them will not return to committing crimes. Crime, for them, is
only a question of earning their bread.
Harvey
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