The six helicopters deployed by the Election Commission are continuing to fly inside Bastar’s remote pockets mostly in the rebel zone to pick up polling staff for a safe exit under armed protection.
All the polling staff deployed in the remote regions who are stationed in the polling booths under a heavy security blanket are expected to arrive back by helicopters in the Jagdalpur district headquarters and Raipur either tonight or latest by Saturday, official sources here informed.
Some of the polling team members in the remote regions had to put up in the remote locations for the night as additional security personnel were summoned for their safety to start leaving the stations on Friday.The pilots of helicopters braved great risks involved in flying inside dense jungle locations vulnerable to attack by Maoists, sources informed.The Election Commission had deployed the helicopters for ferrying as many as 153 polling parties to various booths in Bastar lok Sabha constituency.
The lifting of polling staff to be transported to the polling stations inside Bastar began on April 9. The helicopters started ferrying back from the polling stations after picking up teams from the evening of April 10 when polling got over in the constituency. This apart, the EC had also put in service two air ambulances for emergency use from April 9 to 12. The air ambulances are stationed in Raipur and Jagdalpur.
The security personnel with the polling teams in the remote locations are taking no chances while even boarding helicopters to provide security cover by keeping vigil all around, sources informed.
The helicopters were even used during the Assembly polls in the restive Bastar region to ferry security personnel and the polling staff. An estimated 47 percent of the total 12,98971 voters cast their votes on Thursday for Bastar lok Sabha seat amid firing of gunshots and IED blasts by Maoists to scare away people.
The voters, mainly the tribal men and women, were seen in long queues right from early morning at polling booths even in insurgency-hit areas defying the diktat of the Naxals who had asked the people to boycott polls.