Voters defy Naxals in their bastion

| | Raipur
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Voters defy Naxals in their bastion

Tuesday, 13 November 2018 | PNS | Raipur

Voters defy Naxals in their bastion

Voters defy Naxals in their bastion Voters defy Naxals in their bastion

Chhattisgarh’s insurgency-hit 18 Assembly seats witnessed heavy polling on Monday as voters defied Maoists’ boycott call. It has set the tone for the Assembly elections in five States that have been viewed as a “semi-finals” before the country goes for the Lok Sabha battle in 2019.

The phase-1 turnout was estimated to be 70 per cent and significantly the Maoist bastions in Chhattisgarh recorded the highest-ever voting percentage amid peaceful polling for which about 1.25 lakh security personnel were deployed across eight districts.

Polling officials confirmed that restive areas — Bhejji, Chintagufa and Injeram in Konta seat; Pamed and Bhopalpattanam in Bijapur seat — which had track record of almost zero polling recorded heavy turnout right from early hours of voting.

Government officials, political parties and intellectuals described the higher turnout as an indication of “Maoists losing influence in jungle areas where Naxals had a monopoly for over a quarter century”.

The voting in 18 seats sealed the fate of 190 candidates, including Chief Minister Raman Singh from Rajnandgaon and his two Ministerial colleagues Kedar Kashyap from Narayanpur and Mahesh Gagda from Bijapur.

Rajnandgaon seat where Chief Minister Raman Singh is locked in a direct fight with Congress candidate Karuna Shukla, niece of late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, recorded 70 per cent polling.

Women voters mainly in tribal-dominated forested interiors were seen queued up in large numbers even after voting timing ended.

Chhattisgarh’s Chief Electoral Officer Subrat Sahoo said that Khujji Assembly segment registered the highest turnout of 72 per cent and the poll percentage figure could go up after final compilation of voting data.

Sahoo said five elite troopers from Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) were injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast triggered by Maoists in Bijapur district.

The IED went off when the CoBRA team was cordoning off a jungle stretch. The injured troopers were airlifted to Raipur for urgent medical attention.

Political analysts say that Raman Singh’s clean image and popularity could help the BJP to register the record fourth consecutive victory in the mineral-rich state.

The second and final phase of polling in Chhattisgarh will be held on November 20 for remaining 72 seats. The counting will take place on December 11 along with four other States.

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