LIVE | 63% turnout in LS polls phase 4; Bengal tops with 76% amid violence

Hundreds of voters from different villages fearlessly cast their votes — many for the first time — at Budha Pahad’s booth no. 420, a former Maoist hotbed under Palamu Lok Sabha constituency, on Monday.

Located along Jharkhand’s Latehar and Garhwa districts, Budha Pahad was freed recently from the red rebels’ control by security forces after over three decades.

Thirty-seven-year-old Halkan Kisan was one of them. Kisan cast his vote at booth no 420 in government’s upgraded middle school, Hesatu.

“I have exercised my vote at my own booth for the first time in my life. Earlier, our booth used to be relocated, around 13 km from my village, due to impact of the Maoist in the locality. Very few voters used to go to vote in relocated place. Now, the area has become free from Maoist activity and people are enthusiastically exercising their votes,” Kisan, a resident of Hesatu village under Bargarh block, told PTI.

Medininagar SDO Anurag Tiwary said voting at the polling station is being conducted amid deployment of heavy security. “The polling officials and security personals were air dropped on Sunday at Budha Pahad to conduct the polls,” Tiwary told PTI.

A total of 771 electors are eligible to exercise their votes at the booth. By 1 pm, the booth had registered 68 per cent polling.

Vikram Yadav, 50, another voter, told PTI, “I have given my vote without any trouble. I came to the booth walking around 5 km from my village Saurat and I found no security issue even on the way as there are deployment of security forces.”

Block programming officer, Bargarh, Md Hashim Ansari told PTI, “Several arrangements have been made for voters such as shed, drinking water and ambulance. Besides, vehicles have also been arranged for the elderly and physically challenged voters.”

Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) K Ravi Kumar has visited booth no 420 along with senior police officers on April 20. Kumar had then said voters would exercise their franchise for the first time at their places after many decades. He gave credit to security forces for making this place terror-free.

However, excluding booth no 420, other three booths in Budha Pahad have been relocated due to security reasons, a senior official said.

The exercise to free Budha Pahad from left-wing extremists was carried out through three special operations that were launched since the beginning of April 2022. A total of 14 Maoists were killed, while 590 others were either apprehended or had surrendered during these operations, the officials said.

The BJP has accused the ruling YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh of unleashing “unprecedented violence” to target NDA workers and sought the Election Commission’s intervention.

The party wrote to the poll body even as voting for the Assembly and Lok Sabha was being held in the state. It claimed that police were acting as mute spectators and not ensuring free and fair elections.

The Election Commission’s aim has been to increase the poll percentage but it has been negated by the police indifference and inaction of district election officers, BJP general secretary Arun Singh, who is his party's in-charge for the polls in the state, said.

Large queues could be seen before every polling station and people are made to wait two to three hours minimum to exercise their franchise, he said.

The BJP in its complaint has cited many instances across several districts to allege violence and even booth capturing by YSR Congress workers.