High alert in Karnataka as thousands of poll tricksters hit the street

Bangalore: Soon after the schedule or Karnataka assembly elections were announced, intelligence agencies issued high alert for the entire state.

However, this alert was not to warn civilians against possible terror strikes, but possible cheating by various tricksters who are suspected to get active as the polling date gets nearer.

“We suspect a deluge of false promises, exaggerated claims, and fake shows of empathy in the coming weeks,” a security officer revealed. “Citizens should be aware and prepare themselves for this eventuality.”

Security officials clarified that their job is not to act and stop such threats because such cheating is part and parcel of the democratic process.

“The law of the land allows such things to happen, we can only ask people to be alert,” the official clarified.

This is the first time such an alert has been issued, even though experts and historians point out that such planned deception and hoax have been taking place periodically – at least once every five years.

“I think it’s too late and futile to issue this advisory and declare a state of high alert,” Ganesh Shenoy, an expert, claimed. “People are now attuned to it. In fact, they look forward to it.”

Experts claim that the modus operandi of such tricksters is not much different from that of the common cheats and frauds, especially those who loot poor passengers in trains by making them unconscious after offering them drugged sweets.

“Like those common cheats, these tricksters get friendly with their targets and even voice concern over the ongoing loot by condemning fellow cheats. They offer sweet promises, and sometimes petty cash and liquor,” Ganesh said drawing a parallel between the tricksters and common frauds.

“However there is one difference – while the common cheats vanish after the act, these special tricksters don’t do the vanishing act and instead come back again and again to rip off the unsuspecting citizens,” he added.

Experts further claim that this menace of looting through false promises will go beyond elections in coming weeks.

“IPL is coming up and some former employees of Kingfisher Airlines have threatened to stop matches of Royal Challengers Bangalore if their dues were not paid. In such a scenario, one can expect Vijay Mallya to adopt the same ticks by promising salaries, thus making the employees fall in line,” another expert said while explaining how the high alert is relevant but futile.

When Faking News asked if the “high alert” would be of no use and might end up in yet another “intelligence failure”, experts answered in affirmative.

“Intelligence failure of the common man,” pat came the clarification.

Rahul Roushan thinks he can make some sense through nonsense. He attempts the same through his news satire website www.fakingnews.com