Lok Sabha Elections 2019: 21.1% voting recorded in Naxal-hit Bastar till 11 am

Raipur (Chhattisgarh): Defying all security threats and calls for poll boycott by the Naxals, Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district recorded a 21.1% turnout till 11am, according to the Chief Electoral Office (CEO) of Chhattisgarh, with the region going to polls in the first phase on Lok Sabha elections on Thursday.

“Polling has been going on as per schedule in Dantewada and Sukma. Tonguda, Arlampalli, Palamadgu and Polampalli village in Sukma District if Chhattisgarh are supposed to be the core areas of Naxals. Troops are keeping guard,” said a senior Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) official, on condition of anonymity.

A senior police official, on condition of anonymity, stated that about 60,000 state police and central paramilitary personnel have been deployed across Bastar, while election officials have been moved around by choppers.

In an attempt to disrupt the electoral process, Naxals on Thursday, carried out an improvised explosive device (IED) blast — the third in the last three days — in Bastar’s Narayanpur district.

While polling in the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency’s Dantewada, Konta, Bijapur and Narayanpur districts began at 7am, the process will be concluded at 3pm due to security reasons, a senior paramilitary official said.

At the same time polling in the other districts of Bastar — Bastar, Chitrakot, Kondagaon and Jagdalpur — began at 7am and will conclude at 5pm.

The Bastar seat, which is reserved for a scheduled tribe (ST) candidate has Baiduram Kashyap of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) facing Congress candidate Deepak Baij.

The elections in Bastar — which is the nerve centre of Naxal activity in the state — assume greater significance in the wake of Naxals killing BJP sitting member of legislative assembly (MLA) of Dantewada, Bhima Mandavi, in an IED attack on Tuesday.

Also Read: Lok Sabha polling 2019 LIVE Updates, Phase 1

Get latest election news and live updates on Elections 2019 here