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.