61 pc voting in Gadchiroli despite blasts, firing by Naxals

The Naxal-affected Gadchiroli district witnessed two IED blasts and encounters between rebels and security forces Thursday as polling was held for Lok Sabha elections.

There was also a blast in the district - part of the Gadchiroli-Chimur constituency - a day before the polling.

Despite these incidents, the district recorded an impressive 61.33 per cent voting, an official said.

Voting was also held in six other Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra in the first phase of polls.

Already on high alert, security forces including Central Reserve Police Force and Maharashtra police's C-60 commandos had carried out combing and area-domination operations before the polling.

At around 10.30 am Thursday, there was an IED blast around 150 metres from a polling booth in Waghezari area where people were standing in queues to cast votes.

Two police commandos were injured in another IED blast near Hetri village at Parsalgondi in Etapalli tehsil when a polling party was returning to the district headquarters after voting ended.

An encounter broke out between police and Naxals near Tumdikasa when another polling party was returning on foot. There was no report of casualty in the incident.

There was one more incident of exchange of fire between security forces and Naxals, while police defused four IEDs elsewhere in the district, said Shailesh Balkawade, Superintendent of Police, Gadchiroli.

Naxals had carried out an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast at Etapalli in the district Wednesday. A CRPF jawan escorting a polling party was injured in the blast.

On Tuesday, a BJP MLA and four security personnel were killed in a naxal attack in Dantewada district of neighbouring Chhattisgarh, and a high alert had been issued in Naxal- affected areas of Maharashtra.