Reporter’s diary: Men in khaki take to social media to win political favour

“Otherwise we would vote for NOTA,” they posted with the hashtag #Police-Family-VOTE-for...? This is the first time in the city that the men in khaki have taken to the social media to push for their demands using their electoral power. 

“We have our postal vote and votes of our family members. Each police person can influence nearly eight votes in the family. And think of more than 1 lakh policemen’s voting power. If political parties come forward with a manifesto in which our needs are taken care of, we will vote for them,” a member of police constabulary association said. 

It may be noted that 56 police officers died in the last two months and in February 12 committed suicide. They had been claiming that state government and politicians had been turning a blind eye to their grievances, including weekly offs and overtime allowances among others. Hence, election time may be the best time to attract the attention of political parties, but it is too early to say if the post on social media will have the intended impact.                       

 —VP Raghu, Chennai