Raipur, Apr 10: Of the 1,797 booths in Bastar, 1,407 booths have been marked as ‘critical’ and all steps have been taken to ensure free and fair polling there.
Naxals opened fire on security forces near ten polling booths in Chhattisgarh’s Maoist-hit Bastar Parliamentary seat, where around 30 per cent of the electorate cast their votes till noon.
Besides, a huge haul of explosives, including 15 IEDs and three pressure bombs, were recovered on Thursday by security forces from separate places, averting a massive strike by the ultras in the insurgency-hit region.
“Naxals opened fire on security forces near around ten polling booths while voting was underway there. No injury or casualty was reported in the incidents,” a senior police official said.
Rebels fled to the forest after security personnel launched retaliatory attack on them, he said.
The polling booths where firing was reported are — Korra and Amirgarh in Sukma district, Samoli and Thanikarka booths in Dantewada district, Nelnar booth of Narayanpur district, Padeli and Raigabodi in Kondagaon, he said.
Voting was suspended for few minutes in many of these places but presently it is undergoing smoothly, he said.
The explosives — 15 Improvised Explosive Devices weighing 10 kg each — were unearthed on Thursday morning by a joint patrol squad of Border Security Force and district force from Nelnar area of Narayanpur district, Joint Chief Electoral Officer DD Singh said.
Acting on a tip-off, the security personnel had conducted a de-mining exercise in Nelnar region following which they detected a large number of landmines. Later, owing to security reasons, the Nelnar polling booth was shifted to a nearby place Akabeda, he said.
In a separate incident, three pressure bombs were recovered from Bhansi police station limits of Dantewada district by a local police team.
According to Mr. Singh, polling in Bastar began from 7 AM and around 15 per cent turnout has been recorded till 10 AM.
Polling time in seven Assembly seats — Bastar, Chitrakot, Narayanpur, Bijapur, Konta, Kondagaon and Dantewada — in the region is till 3 PM while the single Jagdalpur Vidhan Sabha seat will witness polling upto 4 PM, he said.
However, at some sensitive polling booths, voting started after a short delay, Mr. Singh said.
Eight candidates including two women, are in the fray for the lone Bastar seat, where voting is underway in the first phase of elections in Chhattisgarh.
Of the 1,797 booths in Bastar, 1,407 booths have been marked as ‘critical’ and all steps have been taken to ensure free and fair polling there, the official said.
BJP has once again fielded in its old face and sitting MP Dinesh Kashyap while Congress has reposed faith in Deepak Karma whose father Mahendra Karma, founder of Salva Judum movement, was killed in the Jiram valley Naxal attack on May 25 last year.
However, with the entry of AAP candidate Soni Sori, a tribal teacher from Dantewada region, the contest this time has become three-cornered.
Other candidates in the fray are: Manbodh Baghel (BSP), Shankar Ram Thakur (SP), Vimla Sori (CPI), Devchand Dhruv (CPI (ML) and Arjun Singh Thakur (Ambedkarite Party of India).
Earlier, a Naxal was gunned down late Wednesday night and another injured in an encounter with security forces in Sukma district.
The face-off took place in the restive Golapalli police station limits on the Chhattisgarh-Andhra Pradesh border when a joint party of state police and Greyhounds personnel from AP was on a combing operation for ensuring security ahead of polls.
“The body of the slain Naxal has been recovered. The identity is yet to be ascertained,” Sukma Superintendent of Police Abhishek Shandilya said. The injured cadre has been shifted to Raipur for treatment, he added.
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