Poll politics woven around crime plot

LUCKNOW: The electoral politics in Uttar Pradesh flourishes around one perennial issue -- that of law and order. While the successive governments have sought credit for bringing down the crime graph, the opposition parties counter such claims by quoting the soaring figures.
Law and order was one of the major issues which led to the debacle of the Samajwadi Party government in 2007 assembly election.And now, the opposition has trained the guns on the Bahujan Samaj Party on the same issue.
Amid this political clamour, the crime graph of Lucknow this year, however, belies the allegations of the opposition.
As compared to the corresponding year till November 30, the city has seen a nosedive in crime by about 1712 cases. If compared to the same period in 2009, there is a reduction by 1858 cases.
But, the city has witnessed at least 10 more murders as compared to last year. Last year, 91 murders took place, while the number has risen to 101 this year. In 2009, the number of murder cases registered with the police stood at 96.
The city this year has recorded 8,852 cases, including those of dacoity, rape, murder, theft, burglary, kidnapping and extortion. Last year, by this time, the numbers stood at 10,564 while it was 10,710 in 2009.
Besides murders, 48 rape cases were registered this year while the figure for 2010 was 67. In 2009, 43 rape cases were registered.
Cases of thefts in the city have been maximum in the past three years. The number of thefts in 2009 was 2,137 while it was 2,246 in 2009 and reduced this year and stood at 1694 cases. After theft, vehicle lifting is another thing which has taken the shape of menace in the city. Number of vehicles lifted this year stood at 1096 while it was 1,444 last year and 2,137 in 2009.
Political parties, however, cry foul and allege that the crime figures are fudged up by the government. They claim that in most of the cases, FIRs are not registered at the police stations.
DIG DK Thakur admits that his office receives at least two to three cases in three to four days where orders are issued for lodging of the FIRs. The number of complainants though is more for registering of the FIR, is much more. Out of these complainants, the number of cases where FIRs should be lodged is comes out to be this much only, the DIG added.
Even though the opposition is not ready to believe on the crime graph, senior police officials in the city give credit for reduction in crime graph mainly to better policing and speedy redressal of the complaints.