 "Voting, Election, polls, Voting day, Voters")
Ahead of the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, Naxalites have killed a 40-year-old man in Bijapur district, accusing him of being a police informer. An official said that the Naxalites warned election officials not to visit polling booths to conduct voting on November 7.
According to preliminary information, Naxalites strangled Muchaki Linga with a rope on Wednesday night and later threw his body on the roadside between Galgam and Nadpalli villages in Bijapur district. They accused Linga, a resident of Galgam, of acting as a police informer. The official said that security forces have launched a combing operation in the region to trace the Naxals.
In another incident, a press note carrying a warning for polling officials, apparently issued by the West Bastar Division Committee of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), surfaced in the district. Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) Sundarraj P said all necessary security arrangements would be in place for the peaceful conduct of elections.
The press note read: "Polling is going to be held in the area (Bijapur) on November 7 and you (poll officials and employees) are preparing for it. The West Bastar Division Committee has already issued a statement giving a call to boycott the 'false' elections. Bijapur has 245 polling booths and you will be coming with EVMs on November 6-7. You will be accompanied by security forces that pose a threat to your lives. Therefore, we appeal to you, keeping your safety in mind, that you should not come."
Bijapur is among the 20 Assembly constituencies that will go to polls in the first phase on November 7. Polling for the remaining 70 of the total 90 seats will be held in the second phase on November 17. The Model Code of Conduct has already come into effect in Chhattisgarh.
