Voters come forward for voting without fear of Naxal’s threat

RAIPUR (CHHATTISGARH): NPNEWS24 ONLINE-The huge response is given by voters in the first phase of assembly elections 2018 in Chhattisgarh. The voters grabbed the right to vote by going outside their houses despite being threatened by Naxalites. By doing such brave act voters have shown that the power of democracy is heavy on the fear of gunfire!

Naxalites had appealed to people of Bijapur, Sukma, Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kanta to boycott the voting. However, voters exercised their right to vote by refusing the pressure of Naxalites.

In Chhattisgarh, 56.58 percent voting was recorded till 4.30 pm. Voting was going on for 18 seats in the first phase.  In which, 8 districts come under a Naxal-affected area. In these districts, 4,336 polling booths were made for voting.

One more interesting thing is that 103-year-old lady Sona Bai also performed her duty of giving the vote at Gorgunda polling booth in Sukama district. After that, one more 100-year-old voter did voting at Dronapal. Along with this,  The person with visually impaired also voted in Naxal affected are Dantevad.

At this time, Naxalites did the explosion of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), (weight of 1-2 kg) near the Tumakpal camp in Ketkalayan Block in Dantewada district. According to the information, there is no any kind of loss of the election officer and the security forces. Also, three IED explosives were found near a polling center in Banda, Sukma district.

After that, the voting process was started by establishing a polling booth under the tree which was away from the original place of voting. Two soldiers were injured in an encounter between security forces and Naxalites at Pamed in Bijapur around 12 noon. There were smooth voting in other places. One lakh soldiers have been deployed to ensure the smooth running of the voting process.