NEW DELHI: TheE first phase of polling in the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday was marred by Naxal violence which left 19 dead. An estimated 60 percent of the 14.31 crore voters exercised their franchise in 124 parliamentary constituencies stretching from Arunachal Pradesh to Lakshadweep.
The Election Commission heaved a sigh of relief and claimed that considering the difficulties and complexities, the polling was largely peaceful.
The turnout of voters varied from 48 per cent in Bihar to 86 per cent in Lakshadweep.
With Naxals issuing an advance warning to disrupt the poll process, elaborate security arrangements were in place to counter the threat.
The arrangements did not work in some places in Bihar, Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand where Naxals managed to spread terror. Poll officials were attacked, killed and even abducted in some cases.
At the end of the day, the EC claimed that 19 persons died in the violence, 10 of whom were security personnel. In one attack alone, seven Border Security Force jawans were killed when their vehicle was blown in a mine blast in Jharkhand where polling was held for six constituencies.
The voter turnout was around 50 per cent in the state.
The EC claimed that incidents of violence should be seen in the backdrop of scale of the poll process. Out of the 1.85 polling stations were votes were cast on Thursday, 76,000 were under direct Naxal threat.
The poll panel said that 86 cases of violence were reported from across the country out of which 71 were Naxal related indicating that the militants had drawn an extensive strategy to disrupt polls.
“Considering the complexities and difficulties involved, the polling was largely peaceful,” Deputy Election Commissioner R. Balakrishnan said. The central control room at Election Commission in New Delhi had kept a close watch at all the 76,000 Naxal affected polling stations.
Every incident was being reported back and contingency measures were put in place.
The voter turn out was well above the 50 per cent mark in the areas where polling was almost peaceful. In Kerala, where polling was held for all the 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the turn out was around 60 per cent.
In Andhra Pradesh, where Naxal violence was anticipated, the polling percentage was 65 per cent. In neighbouring Orissa, where polling was held for 10 out of 21 seats, the turn out was around 53 per cent.
The EC claimed that special plan was made for the Naxal affected regions and the polls were scheduled in a manner that most of the areas were covered in the first phase.
The EC used 27 Indian Air Force helicopters in these regions and it was in touch with the Ministry of Home Affairs on the movement of police force.
In other parts of the country, including the North East, voting was peaceful without any untoward incident. Even in Assam, which had witnessed pre-poll violence, the polling was peaceful.
