RAIPUR – Tens of thousands of armed police were on duty Monday as a restiveIndian state wracked by violence went to the polls.
Maoist militants have unleashed a string of deadly attacks ahead of thevote in mineral-rich Chhattisgarh, one of India’s poorest states, killing13 people in recent weeks.
Hours before voting began, insurgents blew up an improvised explosivedevice in Kanker district on Sunday, killing a police officer.
The Maoists, who say they are fighting for the rights of local tribes andpoor farmers, have put up posters across the state urging voters to boycottthe polls.
The vote — one of five state elections this month and next ahead of 2019general elections — is staggered because of the violence, with a secondround on November 20.
“Some 100,000 security personnel, including central paramilitary force,have been deployed to ensure peaceful polling in the first phase,” saidsenior police officer D. M. Awasthi.
Election officers were airlifted to the most volatile areas where landminesplanted by Maoists are a common threat, he said.
The state has been governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindunationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for 15 years.
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Chief Minister Raman Singh is seeking a fourth term and has blamed therebels for impeding development projects in the state, home to around 25million people.
Maoist groups are believed to be present in more than 10 states acrossIndia.
But they are most active in remote parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar,Jharkhand and Maharashtra, where much of the population remains mired inpoverty and lacks access to critical services.
The left-wing insurgency began in West Bengal state five decades ago whenpeasant farmers rose up against feudal landlords. Some 10,000 people havebeen killed since.
The military strategy of the Maoists, also known as Naxals, is looselybased on the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.
Before the end of the year elections will also be held in the states ofMizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan. Results will be announcedfor all on December 11. -APP/AFP
