People line up to vote in Chitrakoot in Bastar
Four people including a Congress candidate were injured in clashes and live bombs were found in two places as the Maoist-affected constituencies of Chhattisgarh went to polls today under extraordinary security, marking the start of state polls seen as a semi-final before next year's national election.
A staggering one lakh personnel drawn from across the country are guarding just 18 of the state's 90 constituencies that are voting in the first of two-phase polling. These constituencies are in the Maoist strongholds of Bastar and Rajnandgaon districts.
Two live bombs were found outside a polling station in Dantewada and a small bomb was found at Bijapur as polling got underway. Maoists have threatened to do everything possible to derail the polls and had put up posters warning voters.
Earlier, an encounter broke out between Maoists and the Border Security Force or BSF in Kanker in Bastar. Yesterday, three personnel were injured in blasts in Kanker and Rajnandgaon. (
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"We have air surveillance by choppers and air ambulances on stand-by. We have an unprecedented number of personnel. We want people to come out and vote fearlessly," said Arun Dev Gautam, Inspector General, Bastar. Nearly 3,000 cameras are installed at polling stations.
Last night, a Congress candidate from Jagdalpur was injured in political clashes. Shamu Kashyap, said to have been handpicked as a candidate by Rahul Gandhi, alleges that he was attacked by BJP workers when he was traveling.
"BJP workers came in cars and beat me, they said stop neta-giri (politics)," said Mr Kashyap, who is in hospital. The BJP, however, alleged that their workers had been beaten. (
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Chief Minister Raman Singh and three other ministers in the state's BJP government are among 143 candidates whose fate will be decided by nearly three lakh voters today. (
Chhattisgarh: Constituencies) The BJP holds 15 of the seats going to polls, while Congress has three. (
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Raman Singh, who is aiming at a third term, is contesting from Rajnandgaon. The chief minister's main rival is Congress's Alka Mudliyar, wife of Congress leader Uday Mudliyar, who was killed in a Maoist ambush on May 25 in Bastar, which virtually wiped out the entire party leadership in the state.
The wife of Mahendra Karma - the founder of the anti-Naxal force Salwa Judum who was also killed in the attack - is contesting from Dantewada.
Many believe the Congress is banking on the sympathy factor after the killing of its leaders. Narendra Modi, the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate, referred to the attack to praise Raman Singh for his response, contrasting it with his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar's 'arrogance'.
The rest of the state will go to polls on November 19.