Raipur, April 16
Five polling officials were killed in a landmine blast in Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon district and two CRPF personnel shot dead in the Naxal stronghold of Dantewada as the state went to polls for its 11 parliamentary seats today.
A jeep carrying the zonal reserve polling team was blown up in the blast when they were proceeding to supervise poll-related work in Kamkasur village, CEO Sunil Kumar Kujur said. Five officials died and two others sustained injuries in the landmine blast detonated by Maoists, some 125 km from state capital Raipur.
In another incident, two CRPF personnel were killed in Maroki village in Dantewada following an exchange of fire with Naxalites. Besides this, polling machines were snatched in six polling booths in Dantewada and seven in Narainpur. A booth capturing incident was reported from the Korba parliamentary constituency and poll boycott episodes from one polling booth in Janjgir-Champa and two in Raigarh.
In all, polling in strife-torn Chhattisgarh left seven government officials dead, besides episodes of booth capturing, EVM snatching and poll boycott. There was also an incident where a polling party was held captive for some hours before being let off. The administration, therefore, cannot claim that elections went off smoothly in the state. But the fact also is that Maoists were not able to completely halt the democratic process in their strongholds.
An estimated 51 per cent of the total electorate exercised their franchise, as per reports received by the CEO till the evening. The highest polling, 55 per cent, was reported from Raigarh, Durg and Korba and the lowest, 45 per cent from Kanker, followed by 46 per cent from both Bastar and Sarguja.
Sources said a low turn-out was reported in the interior areas of Naxalite-infested Bastar region and only 30 per cent of the total electorate cast their votes in Bijapur district, one of the worst Naxalite-hit districts in the state.
According to the EC guidelines, polling in Naxalite-hit Kanker, Bastar and Sarguja had to be completed by 3 pm to evacuate the polling parties in day-light from the interior and inaccessible terrains where the Naxalites have their dominance.
The EC had set 20,967 polling booths across the 11 Lok Sabha seats. Interestingly, a booth for two persons was also set up at Seradand village in Korea district of the Korba parliamentary constituency. Kujur said the village was in interiors of forests and any information on whether the two persons were able to cast their votes successfully would only be available later.
