Final Campaigning for November 7 Elections in Mizoram, Chhattisgarh Concludes

Raipur: Campaigning for November 7 Assembly polls in Mizoram and first phase of elections in Chhattisgarh ended on Sunday.

Chhattisgarh will witness first phase of polls in 20 seats in the Naxal-infested regions of the state. The campaigning in the state was marred by the killing of two BJP leaders by Naxals. While local BJP leader Birju Taram was shot dead by Naxals in Manpur under Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district on October 20, another party leader Ratik Dubey was hacked to death by the Naxals in a village in Narayanpur district on Saturday.

The Leftwing extremism - hit 12 Assembly constituencies in Bastar are among the 20 seats that are going to polls in the first phase polling in the state.

Around 60,000 security personnel, 40,000 of them belonging to the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and 20,000 from the state police, have been deployed for the smooth conduct of polls in Bastar division, a senior police officer posted in Bastar said.

“Of around 2,600 polling booths in Bastar division, 600 have been identified as sensitive. They will be under three-layer security cover”, Bastar range inspector general of police P. Sunderraj said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, campaigning for Mizoram elections ended at 4 pm on Sunday with no reports of any law and order problems throughout the month-long period, additional chief electoral officer H. Lianzela said.

He asserted that any form of electioneering, public meetings, press conferences by political parties, interviews and panel discussions in the media have been strictly prohibited till voting is over.

Out of the 1,276 voting centres in the state, 149 are remote polling stations, Lianzela said, adding around 30 polling stations along the inter-state and international borders have been declared critical and vulnerable.

Security has been tightened across the state and along international borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar, a police officer said. Mizoram shares a 510km porous border with Myanmar and a 318km border with Bangladesh.

At least 3,000 policemen and 5,400 personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have been deployed for the polls, the officer added.