Though the forthcoming general elections are inching closer, fear still grips the residents as well as the political leaders in Maoist-hit Koraput and Malkangiri districts.
last week CPI (Maoist)) Koraput Srikakulam division secretary Daya and Narayanpatna regional committee chief Aruna, through their letters, had asked the voters to boycott polls or else face dire consequences.
On Wednesday and Thursday, some banners and posters were pasted at different places in Narayanpatna and Boipariguda of Koraput district where the divisional committee of the CPI-Maoists Srikakulam-Koraput division urged the voters to boycott the polls.
The posters were found at Narayanpatna range office, Jhaniabati river bank, Baliperta, Bikrampur, Kujjamba in lamtaput block and Haldikund area in Boipariguda block. In the posters, the rebels said that none of the political leaders in the fray was pro-people and rather they were all fighting elections mainly for self interest. They also asked the voters to assert their rights by bullets instead of ballots.
According to official sources, out of the total 1,067 booths in the district, as many as 271 booths have been declared as highly sensitive. Candidates of different political parties, however, were reported to be on their campaign trail.
The district administration is said to be taking suitable steps to stave off untoward incidents before, during or after the elections.Director General of Border Security Force (BSF) DK Pathak visited the area last week. Combing operation has been intensified in the area to flush out the Maoists to ensure incident-free polls, sources said.
The district administration has also planned to deploy 85 platoons of police force at several booths to ensure free and fair polls and 15 companies of BSF would be deployed to intensify combing operation in the area.