It was a pleasant surprise for voters of the interior naxalite affected villages of Manthani Assembly segment as there was no armed police personnel manning the polling stations.
There was literally no police presence felt at the polling stations in the interior Left-wing affected villages of the Assembly segment abutting adjoining Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. The polling stations in the villages were manned by the unarmed constables and home guards with the support of former naxalites.
Gone are the days when the heavily armed police personnel were visible at the polling stations in the erstwhile naxalites strongholds of Manthani Assembly segment. Earlier, the armed police were also posted on the roof-tops. However, the police forces made their presence felt in the forests and on outskirts of the villages in a move aimed at avoiding intrusion of naxalites.
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Quoting the incidents of naxalites attacking the armed police personnel during the elections in Lenkalagadda blast in Mahadevpur, and Dubbalapadu in Mahamutharam mandal some years ago, the police have decided to avoid the presence of armed forces in the villages. Instead, they took position in the forests and the vantage points to avoid intrusion from Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
Explaining about the security arrangements, a senior police official said that they had deployed heavy police forces in the segment. But strategically we have not made them visible and have avoided falling into the trap of naxalites, he said.
Besides, the police adopted different strategies of taking positions in the vantage points at the entry of the villages.
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“We had used our intelligence network and made our presence felt in the villages in plain clothes,” he said.
He also claimed that the polling percentage had increased considerably in the naxalite affected villages and that the voters exercised their franchise freely without any fear.