Over 60 per cent voters turned out to cast their votes in the bordering area of Gumla and Lohardaga — a part of Bishunpur Assembly segment — where the outlawed CPI (Maoist) blew up a culvert during the early hours of polling on Saturday, election officials said. The high turnout of voters, they added, was evidence to the decreasing fear of insurgents among villagers who believed in democracy.
Gumla Deputy Commissioner Shashi Ranjan said that there were no polling booth around the spot and the rebels’ attempt to sabotage elections did not have any impact on polling. “We had 60 per cent polling in the area where the incident occurred. It is a Maoist-affected area, but there was no impact of the incident on elections,” Ranjan said.
The Deputy Commissioner added that the blast, triggered by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), was extremely low in intensity. “It was a low intensity explosion.
Maybe they (Maoist) only wanted to make their presence felt,” said Ranjan, adding that the area where the incident occurred was far away in the jungles.