The Hindu : Front Page : Unprecedented security in Bastar

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Friday, Nov 14, 2008
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Unprecedented security in Bastar

Aarti Dhar

First phase of polling in Chhattisgarh today; naxalites call for boycott; tribals hold the key

— Photo: Akhilesh Kumar

Safe passage: Electronic voting machines being shifted to polling booths in an IAF helicopter at Jagdalpur in Bastar district on the eve of the elections.

RAIPUR: The first phase of polling in 39 out of the 90 Assembly constituencies in Chhattisgarh will be held on Friday. The election for the remaining 51 constituencies will be held on November 20.

The challenge in the first phase is ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections in 12 constituencies in the Bastar division, where naxalites have called a poll boycott and even threatened to kill those who participate in the electoral process.

All five districts in this division are hit by naxal activities. An unprecedented security cover has been thrown round sensitive areas.

Close to 64 lakh people will exercise their franchise in the first phase. The total number of candidates is 379, including 42 women. The biggest number of nominees (19) is in the fray in Vaishali Nagar in Durg district. Konta in the southernmost tip of the State has only four candidates.

Polling in the 12 segments of the Bastar division will be held from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. so that there is enough time to move electronic voting machines to safer places. In the remaining constituencies, the exercise is scheduled to be held between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. All polling stations in the division have been declared sensitive.

Among those whose fate will be decided in the first phase are Chief Minister Raman Singh, senior Congress leader Mahendra Karma, the former Union Minister Arvind Netam’s daughter Preeti Netam and four State Ministers.

Much would depend on voter preference in the tribal-dominated Bastar division. In the 2003 elections the Bharatiya Janata Party won nine of the 12 seats here and this helped the party form the government. All three seats in the Dantewada district went to the Congress. In the 2004 general elections, the tribal vote again went the BJP way and the party secured 10 of the 11 Lok Sabha seats from the State.

This time round, the Communist Party of India is in a strong position and posing a serious threat to the Congress in Dantewada and to the BJP in Chitrakote. The Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded its candidates in all constituencies.

Corrections and Clarifications

Please paste the following correction to the link given below The fourth paragraph of a report "Unprecedented security in Bastar" (November 14, 2008) was "Close to 64 lakh people will exercise their franchise in the first phase. The total number of candidates is 379, including 42 women." The number of women who contested in the first phase of polling in Chhattisgarh was 36, as mentioned in the accompanying KBK graphic.

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