Some of the districts that witnessed a sudden spurt in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) incidents soon after the 17th General Election earlier this year are set to go to polls in the second phase of Assembly elections in Jharkhand on December 7 — a fact that has kept the law enforcement agencies on their toes in the State, police said on Wednesday.
“We have identified pockets where the rebels are active. Additional security forces have been deployed in the areas that have witnessed LWE activities in the recent past,” said ML Meena, Additional Director General of Police (Operations).
Seraikela and Kharsawan, set to vote in the second phase of the five phase elections here, witnessed at least three encounters between security forces and banned rebel outfit, CPI (Maoist) soon after the last Lok Sabha polls. On May 28, nearly 11 security personnel of Central police force and State police were injured after the insurgents triggered a series of Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts early morning in Rai Sindri hills under Kuchai police station limits of Saraikela Kharsawan. Later, on June 14, the CPI (Maoist) shot dead five policemen at a weekly bazaar within the limits of the district.
“Most of the encounters in Seraikela Kharsawan happened during combing operations. Our men had entered the territory of Maoists during operations after the General Elections,” said Meena, adding that the State police and Central forces were taking extra precautions this time and have made foolproof security arrangements.
As many as 20 Assembly segments are going to polls in the second phase of elections here. The constituencies going to polls include Ghatshila, Potka, Khunti, Tamar, Saraikela and Kharsawan – all marked as LWE sensitive zones, prone to attacks by insurgents, police sources said. The remaining 14 constituencies going to polls in the second phase are Baharagora, Jugsalai, Jamshedpur East, Jamshedpur West, Chaibasa, Manjhgaon, Jaganathpur, Manoharpur, Chakradharpur, Mandar, Torpa, Sisai, Simdega and Kolebira.
The first phase of elections in 13 Assembly constituencies here passed peacefully barring a minor incident where LWE rebels blew up a culvert in the bordering area of Gumla and Lohardaga districts. The casualty-free phase of polling comes as a morale booster for the law enforcement agencies here as all the six districts that went to polls in the first phase were LWE-affected, police said.
A senior police official in the thick of affairs said that the security forces will use helicopters during the second phase to keep a check on the polling from bird’s eye. Battalions of Jaguar and CoBRA will be deployed across the sensitive zones to combat any attack by LWE groups, he added.
The CPI (Maoist) has had a history of bad blood with security forces in Jharkhand. During elections, they primarily target battalions of security forces deployed on poll duty, sources said. According to figures with state police, at least eight casualties were reported in the police camp during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Jharkhand, most of them caused by insurgents.
Sniffer dogs and bomb squads will be moving along with the battalions on poll duty in the sensitive areas to detect and defuse IEDs, which are most commonly used by the rebel outfits to blow up vehicles, said a senior official of Jharkhand police involved in monitoring the security measures for the third phase of elections here.
As per figures with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), 19 of 24 districts in Jharkhand are LWE-affected. Elections in Jharkhand are being held in five phases from November 30 to December 20. The final counting will be done of December 23.