Voters brave 14 Naxal attacks in 5 states

India’s gigantic electoral wheels got rolling on Thursday amid a brazen attempt by naxalites to disrupt the general election. The extremists struck in at least 14 places in the five states of Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, killing at least 19 people, including 12 security force personnel.

Over 58% of 14 crore voters spread over 15 states and two Union territories exercised their franchise in the first phase of polling to elect 124 candidates to the Lok Sabha.

Among the prominent persons whose fates were sealed were senior BJP leaders Jaswant Singh and Murli Manohar Joshi, Union ministers S Jaipal Reddy, Renuka Chaudhary, and Praful Patel, and diplomat-turned-politician Shashi Tharoor.

But the attacks raised fears that the 2009 general elections could also be the most violent India has ever seen with officials and observers saying Thursday’s extremist violence was almost unprecedented in the country’s electoral history.

Within the security establishment many were surprised by the intensity and violence of the attacks. “There is no reason to believe they will lower the tempo in the coming phases,” a senior official said.

Besides claiming several lives and causing damage to poll machinery, the naxalites also terrorised hundreds of rural folk into staying away from casting their vote, the ultimate intent of the extremist movement.

The worst hit was Chhattisgarh state, where six of the 16 districts witnessed significant levels of violence. Naxalites blew up a vehicle carrying election staff in Rajnandgaon district, killing five of them and injuring two. In Dantewada, Bijapur, and Narainpur, several polling booths were raided by naxalites, and exchange of fire was reported from many locations. Two jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed and several others were injured in these firings. Attacks were also reported from Bastar and Kanker districts.

The attacks stretched across the naxalite arc in Bihar, Jharkhand, and Orissa. Though Andhra Pradesh remained calm on the surface, many naxal strongholds in the state reported low turnouts. A senior official said the “spread and intensity” of attacks were unprecedented. Not a wake-up call but a reminder of how much the armed Maoist movement has spread and strengthened over the past few years.

“We didn’t expect such intensity,” a home ministry official said as he shuttled between meetings, reviewing the situation as reports of attacks kept pouring in.

The audacity of the attacks also exhibited how much the governments, both at the Centre and in the states, had neglected the menace. “The wave after wave of attacks over the past week should force us to take a serious look at our strategies,” said an intelligence officer.

“We have not bothered to seriously look at their recruitment patterns, their equipment, etc,” said an IAS officer who has been dealing with the issue.

In the run-up to the polls, the naxalites had stepped up their attacks across mineral-rich central and eastern India. Last Sunday they had swooped down on a Nalco-run bauxite mine in Orissa, killing at least seven personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force.

Seven persons, including five Maoists, were killed when they attacked a bus carrying security personnel in Jharkhand on Tuesday.