The Election Commission has scheduled the re-polling at Palakajeedi in Koyyuru mandal on May 13. The re-poll has been ordered as the polling station was raided by members of the Maoist Dalam Militia Platoon on the polling day (May 7).
About five armed militia members, accompanied by a number of unarmed militia members raided the polling station at about 3 p.m. and burnt two EVM machines and partially burnt the vehicle of the route officer.
According to Visakhapatnam Superintendent of Police Vikramjeet Duggal heavy police have been deployed to thwart any further attempts by the Maoists.
On how it happened, despite heavy police deployment in the Agency area, source in the police said that the polling station was among the least critical centres. There are about 345 hyper-critical and critical centres in the Agency area.
This particular village on the south-west point of the Agency, borders East Godavari district and is considered to be one among the least affected areas.
The Maoist who hade given a call for boycotting the elections had failed miserably, as the polling in highly affected areas such as Darakonda and Sapparla exceeded 70 per cent, said the Mr. Vikramjeet. “This was a desperate attempt to show their presence. It was a face-saving exercise,” he said.
According to him, the militia members had come from the Annavaram- Kannavaram pocket. “It is numerically not possible to station a team of 25 to 30 personnel in all the centres. And it is not advisable to position two or three men, as they may be hit and weapons taken away. What we do is an area domination exercise by a team or platoon, covering a pocket of about three to four km.”
