MUMBAI: The Naxal-infested Gadchiroli district saw 61 per cent voting in the first phase of Lok Sabha election on Thursday even as the banned Maoist organization conducted three attacks and injured three C-6 commandos throughout the day, police have said.
The Maoists carried out blasts of improvised explosive devices (IED) at two places and even fired at the helicopter and a convoy carrying electronic voting machines (EVMs) in order to disrupt the election process, police have said.
First, low-intensity IED blast was conducted at Waghezari in remote Kasansur police station area of Gadchiroli district to scare away voters as polling was underway at around 11.30 in the morning. The blast was carried out near polling station just outside demarcated area for the polling station.
The second blast was carried out at Pulsalgodi area of Etapalli in the evening when commandos of special C-60 anti-Naxal unit were escorting EVMs to the base station. Maoists also open fire at the helicopter that was carrying three injured commandos to the district headquarters, police said.
In the third incident of the day Moists opened fire on the group of election officers returning to base at Tumdikasa in Dhanora taluka of Gadchiroli. Maoists escaped in dense forest after the security forces retaliated the fire, police added.
The outlawed Maoist organization had earlier appealed people in this remote part of the district to boycott elections. A low-intensity IED blast too was carried out on Wednesday at Jambiagatta village in Etapalli area wherein a CRPF personnel injured his lower limbs.
Gadchiroli is among the seven seats where polling took place in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra. Due to Maoist threat and ease in transportation of ballot boxes, the voting in Gadchiroli was scheduled only between 7 am and 3.30 pm.
According to a retired senior officer of anti-Naxal operations of the Gadchiroli police, it is the first time that such IED blasts were executed in a village in Gadchiroli district. “This is very serious as it shows hightened morale of the Maoists,” the ex-officer said. Kasansur is the same area where 40 Maoists were killed in a chance encounter with the special C-60 force of the Gadchiroli police last year, the officer said.
A similar blast at Dantewada on Tuesday had killed five security personnel and a BJP MLA.