Naxal shadow grows

When BSP candidate Imamuddin Ansari votes on February 3, he will press the EVM button with his left thumb. Naxalites pulled out the nail fro...

When BSP candidate Imamuddin Ansari votes on February 3, he will press the EVM button with his left thumb. Naxalites pulled out the nail from his right thumb when he was campaigning in Bagodar constituency.

Ansari is not alone. CPI Maoist and Jharkhand Jan Sangharsh Mukti Morcha have called for a poll boycott and mounted attacks on candidates and their supporters ever since the election dates were announced on December 17.

In his complaint to the police, Ansary says, 8216;8216;After campaigning in the morning of January 20, we were going home in a Maruti van. Six armed men, riding on two Hero Honda motorcycles, intercepted us near Barmasia Chowk.8217;8217;

8216;8216;They compelled us to follow them to a deserted spot, where they assaulted us. They freed us only after pulling out my thumb nail with a plier. They also threatened us with dire consequences if we continued to campaign,8217;8217; he adds. His driver still cannot walk without a stick.

A day before Ansari was attacked, Maoists had set ablaze an election office of the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Dumri and destroyed banners, posters and flags of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha at its Giridih office.

In neighbouring Lohardagga, Morcha activists had burnt some trucks and machines of the Elite Construction Company, which is building a railway bridge connecting Lohardagga with Tori station. Supervisor Ram Sagar Singh has now sought security cover for his company staff.

8216;8216;A dozen armed militants came to us late in the night. They made us sit under a tree. One of them asked me to hand over the key of the Pocklain machine. As I didn8217;t have the key, he fired at its fuel tank,8217;8217; said supervisor Chandrashekhar Upadhaya.

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In Dumri, the Maoists have circulated pamphlets, which say, 8216;8216;We warn traitors not to participate in the process of election which helps perpetuate the system of the capitalists.8217;8217;

The constituencies of Bagodar, Dumri and Giridih are represented by CPI-ML8217;s Mahendra Singh, RJD8217;s Lalchand Mahato and BJP8217;s Chandra Mohan Prasad respectively. Of them, Singh was shot dead recently and Mahato and Prasad are still in the fray. Although the state administration has provided security to every candidate, Mahato and Prasad have not held election meetings in any of the interior villages.

8216;8216;Jan bachegi tabhi na chunao ladenge ,8217;8217; says Ansari. Most candidates don8217;t feel safe even after the deployment of more than 90 companies of paramilitary forces in the 24 constituencies going to polls on February 3. Chief Secretary P.P. Sharma says, 8216;8216;With 50,000 security forces, we hope to hold the polls peacefully.8217;8217;