Polling officials with election material board a helicopter as they leave for their respective polling booths located in Naxal-hit sensitive areas on the eve of voting for the Maharashtra Assembly polls, at Aheri Assembly constituency in Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra.
PTI
Mumbai: The Gadchiroli district - large stretches of which are affected by Left Wing Extremism - reported a record 72.68 per cent voting - in what comes as an achievement for the Centre and the Maharashtra police.
The Gadchiroli district administration and police have made extensive arrangements for the polling and counting process - so that in no way it is disturbed by Maoist outlaws.
Gadchiroli has three Maharashtra Legislative Assembly seats and all recorded 70 per cent plus voting - Aheri (73.26 per cent), Armori (74.50 per cent) and Gadchiroli (73.32 per cent).
All the three seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs).
In fact, 111-year-old Fulmati Binod Sarkar is a resident of Govindpur in Mulchera taluka voted in a polling booth and also urged people to exercise their franchise.
Fulmati Sarkar was born on 1 January, 1913.
“It is a matter of pride for this 111-year-old grandmother to participate in the celebration of democracy by voting in person. She refused to vote at home and participated in the celebration of democracy in person. Not only that, but she also appealed to everyone to vote in her native Bengali language,” officials of Gadchiroli district said.
The Election Commission of India has ensured home voting facilities for voters above 85 years of age, however Fulmati Sarkar preferred to come to the booth and vote.
The visuals have sent a strong message in the district, which is affected by Naxalism.
Gadchiroli’s Collector and District Magistrate Sanjay Daine and Superintendent of Police Neelotpal held a series of meetings to ensure that everything happened with razor-sharp precision right from dispatch of polling parties, ensuring smooth campaign and counting.
“Polling progressed in an orderly manner in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas of both states including Garhchiroli in Maharashtra and Giridih in Jharkhand. Long queues of voters comprising people from different sections of society including first time voters, elderly voters, tribal voters, PwD voters, women voters some bearing children in their arms, voters identifying as third gender, entire families of voters and celebrity voters characterised the atmosphere at polling stations,” the ECI said.
Assured Minimum Facilities (AMF) including toilets, ramps, shed, drinking water ensured that voters could vote comfortably without hindrance.
“There has been a huge response to voting in remote tribal areas of Gadchiroli since the morning. Polling went on peacefully under tight security arrangements with large queues of citizens at the polling booths,” the Gadchiroli police said.
Over the years, the outlawed Maoists have used Gadchiroli district as an "oscillating point" between the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh and Telangana, which has been carved out of Andhra Pradesh.
However, with over 100-plus CPI (Maoist) commanders and cadres being killed in encounters with police and regular-based operations have stepped up the heat on them in the last eight to 10 years dealing a body blow to the Naxalites.
Besides, over a decade's time, hundreds of outlaws have surrendered and they have been rehabilitated.
Several Naxals who had surrendered and joined the mainstream, too voted.
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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