Rosalia Barla (69), the president of Jharkhand’s Barkaspur panchayat, was seen at the R C Primary Middle School in Khunti district’s Lapa on Tuesday, when parts of Jharkhand voted in the second phase. “They say Lapa is home to criminals. If criminals lived here, would we have such a peaceful election?” she said outside the school, which houses booth number 18 of Torpa segment. The booth has 1,047 registered voters. The youngsters, most of whom have migrated for jobs, were largely absent. Rosalia would not admit to the factors behind the creation of the illusion of peace. Villagers revealed that Dinesh Gope, supremo of People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), visited Monday night. “Dinesh told me to vote for the Jharkhand Party candidate. I told him the people would support a larger party and that we should support one of the two national parties. He repeated that we have to vote for Jharkhand Party,” said a villager. Jharkhand Party has fielded Suman Bhengra from Torpa. On Tuesday, Lapa did not have the booth agents of any party since the villagers had already been told whom to vote for. Sources said the PLFI, active in Khunti, Simdega, Gumla, Ranchi and Lohardaga districts, rarely takes on security forces, choosing to kill civilians, accusing them of being informers. In the 2009, the PLFI backed former Zonal Commander Paulus Surin, who was elected from Torpa on a JMM ticket. This year, however, it chose to back the Jharkhand Party nominee as Gope was reportedly angry with Surin’s inability to lobby with the government to lift a police picket outside a school owned by him. “The Congress tried to come in, but the sangathan (PLFI) threatened and sent them back,” said a villager. When asked why they support Gope, a villager said: “He took up a gun to resist the Rajputs of Barkatoli who troubled our girls and stole our things.”
