Fear casts shadow over Bastar polls

In Bastar-ST and Kanker-ST constituencies,the candidates and their supporters went on campaign trail only alongside main motorable roads,leaving out remote villages in view of fear of Maoist attacks. Security personnel,including paramilitary forces,have been specially directed to patrol the remote areas only on foot and not to use vehicles to escape any possible landmine blasts.

Earlier this month,the CPI Maoist organised a massive public meeting somewhere in the forests of Bastar and also invited the local media to cover it. Reports said a gathering of more than 5,000 people took out a rally,which later converged into a meeting where Naxal leaders addressed them,exhorting to boycott the polls.

Only a few days ago,a team of CRPF personnel was surrounded by Naxalites near Chintagufa in South Bastar and opened indiscriminate firing,killing 10 of them. Two other security personnel lost their lives while trying to defuse a landmine in Bastar division.

A massive security umbrella has been thrown over Bastar for smooth conduct of the polling on April 16. The EC had requisitioned nearly a 100 companies of paramilitary forces and helicopters to airlift poll parties to remote polling stations and evacuate them as early as possible after polling. Two Army helicopters are already stationed in Bastar.

In Bastar-ST constituency,party veteran and sitting MP Baliram Kashyap is pitted against former minister Shankar Sodi,whose father Mankuram Sodi had earlier represented the constituency in the past. Communist Party of India CPI candidate Manish Kunjam is making efforts to make a dent into the support base of both the parties in his effort to win the seat. Similarly,in Kanker-ST constituency,BJPs sitting MP Sohan Potai is pitted against Phoolo Devi Netam of the Congress.Joseph John

In BJP-ruled Chhattisgarhs tribal Bastar division comprising two Lok Sabha constituencies of Bastar-ST and Kanker-ST Bhay Ho is the buzzword of the Naxalites and fear is palpable in the wake of a poll boycott call by the Maoists. The extremists have killed 14 people,including 12 security personnel,since elections were declared.

The outlawed CPI Maoist cadres,who were lying low for the past six months,have become active and distributed leaflets,erected banners and pasted posters not only in the remote areas of South Bastar but also in places in divisional headquarters Jagdalpur,asking people to boycott the elections. Similar posters have also come up in Dantewada,Bijapur,Narayanpur,Bastar and Kanker districts,threatening to beat up those who participate in the democratic process.

In Bastar-ST and Kanker-ST constituencies,the candidates and their supporters went on campaign trail only alongside main motorable roads,leaving out remote villages in view of fear of Maoist attacks. Security personnel,including paramilitary forces,have been specially directed to patrol the remote areas only on foot and not to use vehicles to escape any possible landmine blasts.

Earlier this month,the CPI Maoist organised a massive public meeting somewhere in the forests of Bastar and also invited the local media to cover it. Reports said a gathering of more than 5,000 people took out a rally,which later converged into a meeting where Naxal leaders addressed them,exhorting to boycott the polls.

Only a few days ago,a team of CRPF personnel was surrounded by Naxalites near Chintagufa in South Bastar and opened indiscriminate firing,killing 10 of them. Two other security personnel lost their lives while trying to defuse a landmine in Bastar division.

A massive security umbrella has been thrown over Bastar for smooth conduct of the polling on April 16. The EC had requisitioned nearly a 100 companies of paramilitary forces and helicopters to airlift poll parties to remote polling stations and evacuate them as early as possible after polling. Two Army helicopters are already stationed in Bastar.

In Bastar-ST constituency,party veteran and sitting MP Baliram Kashyap is pitted against former minister Shankar Sodi,whose father Mankuram Sodi had earlier represented the constituency in the past. Communist Party of India CPI candidate Manish Kunjam is making efforts to make a dent into the support base of both the parties in his effort to win the seat. Similarly,in Kanker-ST constituency,BJPs sitting MP Sohan Potai is pitted against Phoolo Devi Netam of the Congress.