As Chhattisgarh votes, naxals move in huge brigade to cause devastation

Bastar, Nov 12: As Chhattisgarh votes in the first phase of the assembly elections, a massive movement of naxalites has been noticed. Intelligence Bureau reports state that at least 70 naxalites from other states have moved into Chhattisgarh in a bid to disrupt the polling process.

IB sources tell OneIndia that under the new leadership of Nambala Keshav Rao, the naxalites have adopted an extremely aggressive strategy. It may be recalled that he had taken over the outfit from the 70 year old Ganapathy recently.

The intelligence says that in the run up to the elections there had been massive movement of naxalites into the state from Telangana, Odisha and Maharashtra. They were called in to the state in batches to disrupt the polling process, security officials say. A high alert has been declared in the state and all police stations have been asked to up their guard.

It may be recalled that the naxalites had triggered seven explosions and even battled security forces in Kanker district, which is 175 kilometres away from the state's capital Raipur. The naxalites it may be recalled that have warned of violence if the polls are not boycotted.

Security officials say that in Sukma alone there are around 150 naxalites who are active. It may be recalled that the IB had said recently that a top leader of the naxalites, Hidma is active in this area. This is a great cause of concern for the security officials.
Meanwhile there is heavy combing operation. Naxalites could have set up booby traps in jungles to target security forces.

As many as 650 companies of paramilitary forces and over 65,000 police personnel are on poll duty in the state. This is in addition to the 200 companies of the Chhattisgarh state police. IAF and BSF choppers are on duty to airlift polling parties to remote areas in the tribal region.

The Kontha constituency which is the worst affected region has 40 booths which have been classified as hyper-sensitive.