Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2018: Maoist banners urge voters to boycott polls in tribal areas

Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2018: Banners and leaflets were put up by banned Maoist group in tribal areas of southern Chhattisgarh, urging people to boycott the upcoming polls.

The Maoist-affected districts of southern Chhattisgarh will vote in the first phase of polling. (Image: ANI)

Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2018: Ahead of the most anticipated Chhattisgarh Assembly elections which is slated to take place next month, banners and leaflets were put up by the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) in the tribal-dominated Kanker district of southern Chhattisgarh, urging people to boycott the upcoming polls. Several red banners were posted in the district asking about development done by the government in the last 15 years. “Boycott the Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha elections. What has the state government done in 15 years,” read the banner shared by news agency ANI. The banner also had names of some prominent projects of the Chhattisgarh government including Naya Raipur, new projects, new mines, new detention camps etc. Apart from banners, several leaflets urging people to boycott elections were also found. Not just the Maoists group but residents of the tribal-dominated Belakchhar Gram Panchayat in Korba district have announced that they would not take part in the polls citing government’s failure on all the promises they made before coming into power, reported ANI. However, these boycott calls have gained less momentum in the past elections with most of the seats in Chhattisgarh recording high number of voter turnaround. Though, tribal constituencies remain to fall prey with high number of voters optioning the NOTA (none of the above) option. As per government data, over 10 per cent of voters in the Bijapur constituency opted for NOTA during the 2013 Assembly elections. Likewise in Bastar district's Chitrakot constituency, above 9 per cent voters chose NOTA in the last elections. Voters chosing NOTA during 2013 Assembly elections was a little close to 6 per cent in constituencies including Kondagaon, Narainpur, Dantewada and Keshkal. Earlier this month, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had announced that Chhattisgarh will go for two-phase assembly polls on 90 seats on November 12 and November 20. The Maoist-affected districts of southern Chhattisgarh will vote in the first phase of polling. The counting of votes will take place on December 11.