As many as 18 constituencies went to polls in the Naxal-infested tribal region of Bastar and Rajnandgaon amid tight security.
Polling began at 7am
The Election Commission had made changes in poll timing from 8 am till 4 pm to 7 am till 3 pm in five constituencies following requests from some political parties. However, there was no change in timing for voting in the remaining 13 constituencies.
State chief electoral officer Sunil Kujur said a presiding officer Rajendra Mahapatra, deployed in Bastar’s Balenga booth number 27, died of a heart attack. He was a presiding officer in the forest department and as the Sanjeevani ambulance could not reach on time in the interiors of Balenga, he died in the polling booth itself.
Meanwhile, security forces are on a continuous search operation in the Maoist-hit Bastar district. A bomb attack took place in Pankhajur region of Kanker district, leaving one police personnel injured. Another pressure bomb was recovered and defused near a polling booth in the same region.
Although polling, so far, has been going smoothly, there are reports of an encounter between Maoists and security forces near polling booths in Dantewada district. Two rounds of firing also took place at Bijapur’s Mankeli region minutes before voting began at a polling booth. No casualty was reported from this region.
Small incidents continue to take place in different regions but the situation is under control with tight security, a police official said. He said that security forces have also seized 10 kilograms of pipe bombs from Bijapur’s Murkinar area during a search operation. In another search operation, CRPF and district police seized 10 kilograms of tiffin bombs in Dantewada which was planted on the route going towards the polling booth, while six IEDs were defused near Barsur polling station.
Voters, in general, seem to be enthusiastic despite receiving threats from the Maoists asking them to boycott polls; they are coming forward in large numbers and casting their votes. Women, in particular, are seen in queues waiting to exercise their right to vote. Officials said that from all the constituencies, Rajnandgaon is witnessing the slowest registration of votes with just 10 per cent of votes in first two hours.
There are also many remote areas where polling has not yet started due to Maoist activities. Polling parties couldn’t reach Sukma’s Kistaram station and Golapalli, while Jagargunda polling booth has not seen a single voter since morning. At two polling stations in Antagarh and Durgapur voting has been called off due to Maoist insurgency and security reasons.
Meanwhile, clashes between two groups of BJP and Congress workers were reported from Kondagaon’s Kehskal polling station and at Konta. The party workers accused each other of guiding voters to press the relevant button. The situation, however, was brought under control after police intervention.
Voting also failed to kick-start in two hyper-sensitive polling booths – Chhote Pakhanjore and Sitaramaiyya- of Kanker as polling parties were unable to reach the destination owing to Naxal resistance.
About 4,142 polling booths have been set up of which 1,517 are sensitive booths while 1,311 are hyper-sensitive stations.
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