Chhattisgarh polls: Bastar votes today amid unprecedented security

RAIPUR: An unprecedented security cover has been thrown over Bastar and other Maoist-hit areas going to polls on Monday in the first phase of elections in Chhattisgarh, making it the most fortified elections in the state's history.

Rebels have given a boycott call amidst intelligence alerts about possible guerrilla strikes on polling stations.

Elections are scheduled in 18 constituencies — 12 in worse Naxal-hit tribal Bastar and six constituencies in Rajnandgaon division.

On poll eve, rebels triggered an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) near Baldongri polling station in Manpur-Mohalla assembly segment in Rajnandgaon, leaving two security personnel injured. Both were part of a polling team and were heading towards the booth with election material.

The 18 assembly segments include remote areas of tribal Bastar and constituencies bordering Naxalite areas bordering Gadchiroli in Maharashtra.

Voters will elect their representatives from among 143 candidates in the fray. Eleven women candidates are also testing their electoral fortunes in the first phase.

More than lakh security personnel, drawn from various paramilitary forces, have been deployed in a region straddling 40,000 square kilometres in tribal Bastar itself while a dozen Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters have been pressed into service for aerial surveillance and airlifting polling parties and materials to the remote polling stations.

Road Opening parties (ROPs) are carrying out searches on all roads to detect landmines and defuse them.