Former IPS officer and Uttar Pradesh DGP Prakash Singh, who came out to vote at Noida’s posh Sector 15-A colony, said that the most important issue today was national security.
“National security is the most important and all other issues are secondary. In the sense that even if you have huge economic development but the enemy feel confident that they can bombard you, that they can send their airplanes without deter or hindrance then the economic development are reduced to dust,” Mr. Singh said.
“We should be able to secure our borders. We should be able to ensure internal security. Then only the economic development can come forward,” he remarked.
When asked about the candidates in his constituency, Gautama Budh Nagar, which went to poll in the first phase of the 17th Lok Sabha election on Thursday, Mr. Singh refrained from taking named but said two of them “appear to be good, well-educated, articulate with no criminal records”.
He said criminal records was a “very important factor” for him. “Look some crimes are of a technical nature. Like Section 144 [unlawful assembly], you go and violate it. And then they will book you, but that is a technical crime,” he said, adding that it was the heinous crimes such as murder, dacoity, rape which cannot be ignored.
“Those who have a case registered with the police in connection with heinous crimes such as rape, murder etc., should be debarred from election. They should not be allowed to file their nomination. But unfortunately, every party has criminals so none of them are agreeing to barring such people,” Mr. Singh said.
Mr. Singh has been championing the cause of police reforms in the country. His public interest litigation filed at the Supreme Court led to the landmark September 2006 verdict, directing the States and the Centre to implement several guidelines.
When asked about the status of the case, Mr. Singh said that the top court was currently overseeing the implementations of the judgment.
The polling for the Gautam Budh Nagar constituency was held along with 91 Lok Sabha seats across 20 States as per the first phase of the Lok Sabha poll. Gautam Budh Nagar constituency has around 22 lakh voters. There are thirteen candidates, including two independents, in the fray for the seat.