 "Security to all parties in Naxal-affected areas, says CM Bhupesh Baghel")
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said all political activities in the state's Naxal-affected districts will be given complete security before elections.
Last week, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had sent a letter to the state's Director General of Police, requesting safety for its "parivartan yatra", which is set to begin on September 12 in Naxal-affected Dantewada.
The BJP stated that it did not trust the state's Congress government as its leaders were targeted and assassinated in the Bastar area.
Following this, Baghel said, "Complete security will be provided to all political parties. We have lost our leaders in Jhiram Ghati in 2013."
"During the recent meeting of the unified command (of security forces), we have clearly directed that all the political programmes should be provided full protection in Naxal-affected areas," the chief minister said.
On May 25, 2013, ahead of the assembly elections, Maoists attacked a convoy of Congress leaders during the party's "Parivartan rally" in the Jhiram valley in Bastar district, killing 29 people, including then-state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, former leader of the opposition Mahendra Karma, and former Union minister V C Shukla.
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Last week, in a significant development and a first in Naxal-hit Chhattisgarh, the Election Commission had announced the opening of polling stations in 40 villages of the Bastar division.
The 40 Naxalite-affected villages have never had a polling station before. But with the upcoming Assembly elections in naxal-hit Sukma, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar, and Dantewada districts, the Election Commission of India (ECI) will be setting up polling centres at villages.