LUCKNOW: Nearly10%of the polling stations in Lucknow, the parliamentary constituency of Home minister Rajnath Singh , have been identified as 'hyper-sensitive plus' — a category of polling stations that are prone to caste or communal conflict and violence — by the district administration. Surprisingly, some of these hyper-sensitive plus category polling stations are in posh localities like Mahanagar, Aliganj, Vikasnagar, Gomtinagar and Indiranagar.The district administration plans to keep a hawk-eyed vigil on these polling stations with the help of drones, web-casting and CCTV cameras.The categorisation of polling stations has been done following the four-time rise in the number of cases of preventive action taken by district police to prevent criminals from disrupting free and fair polling.As per the data available with district administration, police registered 6,178 cases of preventive action, like imposition of Gangster Act, Goonda Act and externment (zila badar) in a span of 10 months between January 1 and October 26. On an average, the state capital recorded 617 such cases each month.Since October 27, when state election commission issued the notification for urban local bodies' elections, the number of cases of preventive action shot up to 2,270 in just 22 days.Between January 1 and October 26 this year, as many as 45 people were externed from the city on account of their criminal history.Since October 27, the cases of externment rose to 107 in just three weeks. Likewise, the number of cases under Gangster Act too shot from 50 to 116.No. of cases shot up after notificationData show that 850 cases were registered under Section 110G of CRPC (preventive measure for habitual offenders) between January 1 and October 26. That is 8.5 per month. This rose to 402 after poll notification was issued on October 27.Lucknow district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said that the extraordinary rise in the number of cases of preventive action was based on the inputs of local intelligence unit (LIU). Sharma confirmed that out of total 542 polling stations in Lucknow, 58 have been categorised as hyper-sensitive plus."And they are also in some of the most posh residential localities like Gomtinagar, Mahanagar, Indiranagar, Aliganj and Vikasnagar...," Sharma told TOI. He said that another 119 polling stations have been categorised as 'hyper sensitive' and an equal number in sensitive category. Lucknow will vote on November 26.

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