23 polling parties still in naxal strong hold

     Dantewada, November 16, 2008: At least 23 polling parties are still in interior areas of Dantewada and Bijapur districts of Chhattisgarh even after 48 hours of completion of the vote for the first phase of election for Chhattisgarh Assembly.

     At least 20 polling parties from Konta assembly constituency and three from Bijapur are still in their polling booths or in other interior areas due to naxal threat, official sources admitted to the ChhattisgarhTopNews.Com.

     Of the 20 polling parties, six each party are from Chintalnar and Polampalli areas where as five from Chintagupha area and three from Golapalli area, they said.

     Similarly one polling party each from Kutru, Chundur and Annaram have not yet been evacuated although the polling was completed on Friday at 3:00 PM, they said.

     The Election Commission has also taken the matter seriously as due to wrong deployment of security forces such a situation had been created, Commission sources said at Raipur.

     The Central Election Commission had also asked the State Police Headquarters and the CRPF to clarify the situation, they said.

     About 430 polling parties with Electronic Voting Machines were left inside by the administration in Dantewada, Bijapur and Kanker districts due to heavy presence of Maoists in those areas and after 24 hours some of them had been brought to the base areas today and still polling parties are inside the interior areas with out proper security.