EC grades hinge on Naxals

PWG’s posters calling for poll boycott have already appeared in Bastar and Dantewara districts. In Sarguja district, bordering Jharkhand, the MCC is issuing open threats to adivasis.

This is then an obvious cause of concern for CEC J.M. Lyndoh and his team visiting the state on November 4 for a detailed review of the election arrangements.

The Naxalites’ threat is not new. They give boycott calls before every elections but, as IG (Bastar) S.K. Paswan points out, ‘‘Their (Naxalites’) presence and capacity to strike are now acknowledged. It’s become a challenge to contain their activities.’’

A look at the trend in the previous elections in Naxalite-infested areas shows that polling percentage was as low as 29. In Bejapur, polling was just 35 per cent in the 1998 elections and Dantewara registered 38.95 per cent polling. The Opposition BJP fears that this could fall further in view of the increased Naxalite violence.

On Tuesday’s attack, BJP general secretary Chander Shekhar Sahu says: ‘‘If the CRPF and the police are not safe, how will be possible for us to campaign freely and oversee a free and fair election. The government is to blame for the increase in Naxalite activities.’’

At least 70 companies of CRPF jawans have already reached the state for deployment before the polls as a confidence-building measure. This year, over 400 panchayat pradhans, janpad and zilla panchayat members resigned from their posts in Bastar under pressure from PWG Naxalites.