With the focus shifting to Phase 2 of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections when 58 seats in the western part of the state go to polls on April 13, the Election Commission and Central paramilitary forces have begun to concentrate on Meerut district.

All seven districts in Meerut zone have been declared hyper sensitive and as many as 1,200 local criminals have been banned from entering the area. The stakes are high here as the ruling Samajwadi Party had failed to win even a single seat in Meerut, Bulandshahr and Baghpat during the 2002 Assembly elections, while the Rashtriya Lok Dal, BJP and BSP split the gains.

Meanwhile, the EC has taken note of the ruckus in Meerut jail last week and ordered the shifting of nine dreaded criminals from the jail. All nine criminals — including the notorious Ajay Jadeja and Yogesh Bhagoda — were shifted to other jails today and the state government also transferred the jail superintendents of Meerut and Bulandshahr along with a dozen officials of Meerut jail who had been posted there for almost a decade. Meerut jail superintendent, Yadvendra Shukla, was in fact blamed for instigating the inmates to attack the police team led by DIG Jails (Agra), M L Prakash, which conducted a surprise raid on March 30.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Meerut DIG B K Maurya said all seven districts of Meerut Zone — Meerut, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Gautambudh Nagar, Baghpat, Saharanpur and Muzzafarnagar — have been declared hyper-sensitive. He added the focus will be on Meerut’s City, Sardhona, Kithaur, Bulandshahr’s City and Sikandrabad seats.