Ominous shadow of Maoist extremism looms over Chhattisgarh polls

Raipur, Oct 15 (SocialNews.XYZ) The challenges in the Maoist-affected areas have reduced in Chhattisgarh but they have not completely ended, hence this time the assembly elections are going to be a big tough task for the administration and security forces.

Chhattisgarh is one of those states of the country where the incidents happening in Maoist affected areas remain in the news. That is why everyone's eyes are on the assembly constituencies here which are considered Maoist affected, regarding the assembly elections to be held in the month of November.

Voting for the assembly elections is going to be held in the state in two phases -- the first phase on November 7 and the second on November 17. Out of 90 assembly seats here, 20 assembly seats are considered Maoist affected, out of which 12 are from Bastar division and eight from Rajnandgaon. Voting in these areas will be held on November 7.

Out of the 20 Maoist-affected assembly seats where voting is going to take place in the first phase in the state, Congress is in control of 19 seats.

Bastar division is completely BJP-free, whereas out of eight assembly seats of Rajnandgaon, seven are held by Congress and one by BJP. The Election Commission has considered these areas as serious due to Maoist activities and that is why voting is being conducted on these seats in the first phase.

The information released from time to time by the Central and the State governments regarding Maoist affected districts confirms that there has been a massive reduction in Maoist violence in Chhattisgarh in the recent past. That’s why this time the number of highly sensitive polling stations will be less as compared to 2018. Though, it is being said that the region of Maoist-affected area has increased a bit compared to before and therefore special security arrangements have been made in these areas.

According to the information, preparations are on to deploy more than 50,000 additional security forces to curb the Maoists activities at these places and prevent them from creating any disturbance in the voting. These steps are taken because the Maoist outfit threatens the local voters besides announcing to boycott election.

Apart from Chhattisgarh Police, Central security forces personnel are also being deployed here, while the Election Commission and administrative staff have also identified those areas where additional security is needed.

In view of the Maoist threat, the Central Government has provided special security to 24 leaders of the state. Raising questions on this, Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee’s Media Department Chief Sushil Anand Shukla said that this decision of the Centre has been taken to defame the state whereas Maoist activities in the state have reduced much compared to before. He has also asked “whether the leaders who have been provided this security had ever applied to the state or central government regarding security. Why were security not given to leaders of Congress and other parties?”

The areas where elections are to be held in the first phase in the state are mainly tribal dominated and hence is won’t not be easy for the BJP to woo voters here. BJP's national vice president and former Chief Minister Raman Singh says “BJP's position among the tribal class has improved, last time we did not get success but this time the circumstances have changed and BJP will win in large numbers.”

Election time is most important for the administration and security forces because in May 2013, Maoists had carried out an attack in Jhiram Valley of Sukma district in which 27 Congress leaders were killed, probably the biggest incident of political violence in the country.

Source: IANS