Chhattisgarh: Day before polls, Maoists set off 6 blasts; 1 BSF officer killed

Raipur, Nov 11: A sub-inspector of Border Security Force (BSF) was killed when Maoists reportedly triggered six IED blasts in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh on Sunday, a day ahead of polling in the region.

The blast took place at around 8.30 am when a team of BSF was on routine area domination in Koliyabeda area. The area comes under Antahgarh assembly constituency from where MP Vikram Usendi has been fielded by BJP in the assembly elections.

In another incident, one Maoist was gunned down on in an encounter with security forces in Chhattigsarh's insurgency-hit Bijapur district. Arms and ammunition were also recovered.

Elaborate security arrangements are being made for smooth conduct of tomorrow's first phase of polling in Chhattisgarh to elect a new Assembly. 18 constituencies in eight Naxal-affected districts will go to polls in this phase.

Polling in 10 constituencies - Mohla-Manpur, Antagarh, Bhanupratappur, Kanker, Keshkal, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur and Konta - will start at 7 am and end at 3 pm. In the other eight seats - Khairgarh, Dongargarh, Rajnandgaon, Dongargaon, Khujji, Bastar, Jagdalpur and Chitrakot - the polling time will be 8 am to 5 pm.

The remaining 72 constituencies in the state will go to polls on the 20th of this month.