Jagdalpur (Chattisgarh): The upcoming Lok Sabha election in Chhattisgarh's Bastar Parliamentary constituency, which has been severely impacted by the Maoist movement in the past, will take place on the dates officially stated by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The Bastar Parliamentary constituency is set to hold its first round of voting on April 19, 2024. In the Bastar Parliamentary constituency, polling would be conducted from 7 AM to 3 PM in a number of Assembly constituencies, including Konta, Dantewada, Chitrakote, Narayanpur, Kondagaon, and Bijapur, according to the notice issued by the ECI.
In the runup to the election, The State Election Commission is busy preparing to conduct peaceful and safe elections. Election Commission officials are busy checking EVMs and sending police and polling teams to Naxal-affected areas by helicopter.
There are several polling stations in the Bastar division where polling personnel reach after crossing rivers and drains. To reduce this predicament, the security forces and the election branch have jointly taken up the responsibility of accompanying the polling personnel safely to the polling booth.
Naxalites have always favoured boycott of elections. After polling is completed, Naxalites damage EVMs, VVPATs and other electoral items. To avoid such circumstances, this year, more than one lakh security personnel have been deployed in Bastar.
The security of polling stations in sensitive places has been planned in three layers. This is the reason why polling personnel will be transported to the polling centers through helicopters. After this it will be brought back to the headquarters via helicopter.
"Earlier also in Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections, polling personnel were airlifted to sensitive areas. Similarly, in the Lok Sabha elections, for security reasons, polling personnel will be transported to the base camp with the help of helicopters. Preparations are being carried out in the parliamentary constituency,'' said Sundarraj P, IG, Bastar Range.
Adequate special security forces have been deployed in Bastar to avoid any untoward situation. Apart from this, soldiers will also be deployed in general polling stations so that the voting process can be conducted safely.
Surveillance is being maintained through drones in sensitive areas. Along with deployment of forces in interior areas, nearby health centers and police stations have been put on alert mode.
Security arrangements have also been tightened in Dantewada ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. As many as 25 CRPF companies have been deployed in Bastar. Apart from this, 20 companies of CRPF have already been handed over to Dantewada Police for election work.
Bastar is bounded on the north-west by Narayanpur district, on the north by Kondagaon district, on the east by Nabarangpur and Koraput districts of Odisha state, and on the south and south-west by Dantewada and Sukma. There is a unique blend of tribal and Oriya culture in the area. There are three assembly constituencies in Bastar – Bastar, Jagdalpur and Chitrakot.
Bastar and Dantewada districts were earlier part of the princely state of Bastar. After India gained independence in 1947, the princely states of Bastar and Kanker acceded to the Government of India and were merged to form the Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh. Its area was 39,114 square km, which was the largest in India at the time of formation. In 1999 the district was divided into the present districts of Bastar, Dantewada and Kanker. In 2000, Bastar was one of the 16 districts of Madhya Pradesh, now a part of the new state of Chhattisgarh. In 2012, it was divided again to form Kondgaon district. The district is a part of the Red Corridor.
There are a total of 1,89,16,285 voters in the state, of which 94,77,113 are male and 94,38,463 are female voters. There are 709 transgender voters. The people of Bastar depend almost entirely on farming along with land.
