The Hindu : Front Page : Kandhamal voters defy naxal threat

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Friday, Apr 17, 2009
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Kandhamal voters defy naxal threat

Sib Kumar Das

Over 90 per cent of people in relief camps voted
Voter turnout was around 55 per cent

KANDHAMAL: People came out to vote in large numbers in communal violence-hit Kandhamal district of Orissa on Thursday.

Neither the naxal threat nor the fear of communal violence deterred the voters. Polling was entirely peaceful without any untoward incidents.

Victims of communal riots languishing in relief camps also came out to vote. According to Kandhamal district collector Krishan Kumar, more than 90 per cent of the voters living in relief camps exercised their franchise with the help of the administration and the security forces. The average voter turnout in Kandhamal district was around 55 per cent. The turnout touched 70 per cent in Brahmanigaon, a naxal-prone communal violence-hit area. Naxals had given a poll boycott call in Kandhamal district.

Enthusiasm was quite evident among the 3,170 voters from five relief camps. Many were visiting their villages for the first time after the communal violence. The administration had made elaborate arrangements for them. They were taken in special buses to the booths at their villages under tight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) security. Twenty-five teams, comprising an escort officer and a section of the force, had been constituted for this, he said.

Elderly Banabasi Digal had got himself ready at the Tikabali relief camp early on Thursday morning. Hailing from Balisahi village, he was waiting to be taken to the Sankarakhol booth to cast his vote. “I have lost my house, but I do not want to lose my power to choose my representative,” he said.

At the booth at Sulasara village, women voters from Tikabali relief camp were seen standing in queues to cast their votes. One of them said she expected this election to usher peace so that they could return to their villages.

At the Mandakia relief camp, Jaya Chandra Pradhan, leader of the inhabitants, was all praise for the administration for the arrangements. “We never thought we would be able to visit our villages to cast our votes. We have not been able to return to our homes due to threats,” he said. He hoped the administration would act with the same zeal to help them return to their villages after the elections.

Security was tight in Kandhamal. Apart from the State police, CRPF and BSF personnel, 35 special teams kept a watch on 150 sensitive or naxal-prone villages.

The district witnessed large-scale communal riots in 2007 and 2008. At least 38 persons were killed in the wake of the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati and four of his aides at his ashram on August 23, 2008.

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