Narayanpur comes under Bastar constituency where polling is being held in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections 2019.
(Representational Photo: iStock)
A party of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Chhattisgarh Police were ambushed by Naxals in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district on Thursday morning. Narayanpur comes under Bastar constituency where polling is being held in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections 2019.
According to reports, the 60-member team was moving on foot from Farasgaon toward Dadwang in Bastar constituency for polling when they came under attack by Naxals. The extremists triggered an IED before firing at the party.
The ITBP successfully managed to break the ambush. No casualty was reported.
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The incident came just two days after Naxals killed the sitting BJP MLA from Dantewada in an IED attack. Bhima Mandavi was travelling in a convoy when it was hit by the Naxals. Four others including three PSOs of the lawmaker were also killed.
Meanwhile, four Naxals were arrested and three firearms seized from them in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district.
Police said that the Naxals, belonging to Maad division of Maoists, were apprehended from Bedre area in the morning when a joint team of the Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) and district force was out on an area domination operation.
Bastar is one of the districts most-affected by Left-wing extremism. It is the only constituency in Chhattisgarh where voting is being held today.
Around 80,000 state and paramilitary personnel have been deployed across Bastar for security purposes during the polling. A total of 159 polling centres are in sensitive areas of the constituencies.
Seven candidates are in fray in Bastar constituency, including BJP’s Baiduram Kashyap and Congress’ Deepak Baij.
Reports say that around 14 per cent of the electorate had cast their votes till 9.30 am in Bastar.
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