M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, May 5: Palamu SP Chandan Kumar Sinha on Thursday informed that 52 percent of the total polling booths numbering 3,305 falls in the Naxal belt.
The SP said this 52 percent is less by 8 to 10 percent in comparison to the last panchayat elections held in Palamu and Jharkhand.
The last panchayat election, the second in a row after the creation of Jharkhand, was held in 2015.
In 2015, around 60 to 61 percent of the polling booths in Palamu were declared booths in the Naxal belt.
Now, in Palamu some sections are free of Naxal influence, indicating ease of voting.
The SP went on to say, “We have identified booths in the Naxal belt which are located on the stretch of border with Bihar’s Aurangabad and Rohtas districts. We have further tagged 52 percent of booths as on Naxal belt which has a history of extremism in the past.”
Sources said there has been a varied history of extremists’ influence on booths in the past here which included the explosion of crude sutlee bombs, capturing of the ballot papers, forcible stamping of the symbols of the candidates, keeping polling parties under intimidation etc.
