Bastar to vote in 1st phase today post anti-Naxal ops

RAIPUR: Amid heightened security measures, the Naxalaffected Bastar Lok Sabha constituency in Chhattisgarh will go to polls in the first phase of general elections on Friday, where 11 candidates are in fray.

Maoists’ call to boycott elections poses a challenge to security forces, but their morale seems to be high following a major counter-insurgency operation in Kanker district on April 16 in which 29 Naxals, including senior cadres, were gunned down by them. Kanker is part of the Bastar region.

Congress’ firebrand leader

Kawasi Lakhma will take on BJP’s Mahesh Kashyap, a fresh face, in Bastar, which the saffron party has lost in 2019. “All preparations have been made for conducting a free and fair election in Bastar, the lone Lok Sabha constituency going to polls in the first phase in the state on April 19,” state’s Chief Electoral Officer Reena Babasaheb Kangale told reporters on Thursday.

Polling in booths of Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Chitrakot, Dantewada, Bijapur and Konta assembly constituencies in the Bastar LS seat will be held from 7 am to 3 pm. Besides, in the Bastar assembly constituency, the polling will be held from 7 am to 5 pm. In the Jagdalpur assembly segment, 175 booths will see voting from 7 am to 3 pm and 72 booths from 7 am to 3 pm, she said. A total of 11 candidates are in the fray in Bastar, where 14,72,207 voters -- 7,71,679 women, 7,00,476 men and 52 members of third gender -- are eligible to exercise their franchise, she said. There are 1,603 service voters, 12,703 divyang (differently-abled) voters, 47,010 voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years, 3,487 in the age group of above 85 years of age and 119 voters above 100 years of age, she said.

As many as 1,961 polling booths have been set up in the constituency. Total 9,864 polling personnel have been deployed for the first phase, Kangale added.

Sufficient security arrangements have been made in all 8 Assembly segments in this LS seat. In the 1st phase, 61 polling booths have been categorised as vulnerable and 196 as critical — State’s Chief Electoral Officer