67% turnout as voters defy Naxals in first phase of Chhattisgarh poll

Despite Naxal violence including attacks on poll booths and incidents of theft of EVMs (Electronic Voting Machine) at some places during the first phase of Chhattisgarh polls, the people of the state turned up to vote in numbers, with the final tally at an impressive 67 percent. More than two million voters – or 67 percent of the electorate – defied Maoists to vote in the first phase of Chhattisgarh’s assembly elections that marked the start of the biggest popularity contest ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Sporadic violence left a trooper dead. This number included 60 percent turnout in Bastar, and 67 percent turnout in Dantewada, both of which are considered to be hotbeds of Naxal violence. After Maoists called for a boycott of the exercise, ballotting began on a dull note. But polling rapidly picked up as the day progressed. About 30-35 percent had voted by afternoon. [caption id=“attachment_1224021” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Voters outside a polling booth. PTI[/caption] By the time curtains came down, 67 percent of the 2.9 million voters involved in Monday’s voting had exercised their franchise. All through the day, men and women from the predominantly tribal belt of the sprawling Bastar region and Rajnandgaon district queued up to vote in an election in which the Congress is determined to end 10 years of reign by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). According to the Chhattisgarh Election Office, Kanker registered 76 percent voting while Konda registered a turnout of 78 percent. “There was 62 percent polling in Narainpur and 78 perecnt in Khudji,” Raju Sahoo, a poll official told Firstpost from Raipur. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said that despite reports of violence in multiple parts of the state, polling had largely gone smoothly. “Polling in Chhattisgarh is taking place smoothly even in places where we had concerns,” he said. The turnout was all the more encouraging, given that earlier in the day Naxals had done their best to disrupt voting and intimidate people into staying at home. “The poll process was marked by visible enthusiasm. It was largely peaceful. There were sporadic incidents of firing,” Deputy Election Commissioner R. Balakrishnan said in New Delhi. Maoists triggered multiple blasts in polling booths located in forested areas in Konta, Dantewada, Bijapur, Kanker, Antagarh, Bhanupratapur and Narayanpur areas in a bid to scare voters off. In Dantewada, a CRPF jawan was killed in an encounter with Maoists who were attempting to disrupt ongoing polling. Another BSF personnel was injured while trying to defuse a live bomb placed outside a polling booth. But the naxals did manage to entirely disrupt voting in some areas. There was no voting in two hyper sensitive polling booths – Durgapur and Sitaram – of Kanker. In Durgapur, Naxals looted EVM machines from polling parties. The situation was the same in Sitaram, where Naxal violence kept both voters and political party representatives away from booths. Similarly there was no turnout in as many as 42 booths in Sukma. The booths had been located inside security camps.