C'garh: Naxal banners asking people to boycott polls recovered

Three days after the announcement of Lok Sabha poll schedule, police Wednesday recovered Maoist banners asking locals to boycott the general elections in Gariaband district of Chhattisgarh.

Talking to PTI, Gariaband Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sukhnandan Rathore said, Naxal banners were put up at a bus stop in Rasela village under Piparchhedi police station limits of the district located along Odisha border.

In the banners, Odisha state committee of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) has given a call to boycott the Lok Sabha elections, he said.

"After being informed about it, a police team was rushed to the village, located around 125 kms from the capital Raipur, and removed the banners," he added.

Naxal activities were not being noticed from a long time in Gariaband as they have turned weak in the area.

"Therefore, just to make their presence felt they have put up banners and tried to create a sense of fear among villagers," Rathore said.

However, security forces have been asked to intensify patrolling in the area to trace the ultras, he added.

Chhattisgarh will vote in three phases on April 11, April 18 and April 23 for general elections.

Gariaband district, which comes under Mahasamund Lok Sabha constituency, will go to polls along with two other seats Rajnandgaon and Kanker during the second phase on April 18.