Polling in Bastar to be held as per schedule, says EC

Raipur, April 10: The incident of Dantewada has shaken everyone but it won’t affect the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections as the Election Commission has said that the Lok Sabha polls will be held as per schedule in Dantewada area of Chhattisgarh where the Naxal attack took place on Tuesday evening.

 

State Chief Electoral Officer held a meeting through video conferencing with Collectors and SPs of the affected districts covering Phase one and two. He instructed them to take the utmost precautions over the next few days in view of polling.

BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi and four security personnel were killed in the Naxal attack in Dantewada when they were returning after an election campaign.

A convoy was targeted by Naxals using an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). The incident, which took place in Shyamgiri under the Kuakonda police station, comes two days ahead of polling in Bastar.

“The dead included Mandavi's driver Danteshwar Maurya and three jawans of the district force identified as Chhagan Kuldeep, Somdu Kawasi and Ramlal Oyami. The IED blast triggered by Naxals hit the two-vehicle convoy as it passed the area near Shyamgiri hills”, the officials confirmed.

Meanwhile, strongly condemning the Maoist attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to the security personnel who were martyred. “The sacrifices of these martyrs will not go in vain”, he said.