Over 800 kg of explosives and 127 improvised bombs have been recovered by security forces from across Naxal violence-hit areas since the Election Commission sounded the poll bugle in the country on March 5.
The maximum of these killing traps and deadly ammunition, aimed at security forces and poll officials, have been recovered by the paramilitary CRPF from Left Wing Extremism affected areas of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Odisha.
According to an official report, a maximum of 61 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were recovered from Bihar, 33 from Jharkhand, 24 from Chhattigarh and nine from Odisha.
The total number of these locally made recovered bombs, which also killed troopers, is 127. 750kgs of explosives was seized from Bihar, 53 kgs from Jharkhand, .5kg from Chhattisgarh and 3.8kgs from Odisha, taking the total to 806.92kgs during the period between March 5-April 20.
During the same period, 10 IED explosions took place in Bihar, six in Jharkhand and 13 in Chhattisgarh. The maximum casualty for the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the lead anti-Naxal operations force and the largest security force deployed for polls, took place in the restive Bastar area of Chhattisgarh where 20 personnel were killed while 15 were injured in separate incidents.
Five CRPF men were also killed in Bihar while seven were injured in the same state during poll duties in the Maoist grid. A total of fifty-two arms were also recovered during the same period with Bihar (10), Jharkhand (21), Chhattisgarh (15), Odisha (5) and Maharashtra (1).
Similarly, a total of 452 rounds of ammunition was recovered by the paramilitary force from these states with the maximum being in Jharkhand (355), Bihar (47), Chhattisgarh (37) and Odisha (13).
Till now, 52 encounters have taken place between the CRPF and Naxals/insurgents in these areas with the maximum such face-offs being reported in Chhattisgarh (33), Jharkhand (11), Bihar (4) while Odisha and Maharashtra had two each of such operations.
A pooled contingent of close to 1.3-lakh paramilitary and state police personnel have been deployed to exclusively cater to election-related duties by the Union Home Ministry.
Apart from these men, close to 1.2 lakh personnel and special units are already present in the Naxal and militancy affected areas to undertake operations and facilitate smooth movements of these forces across various states.
The Ministry has also identified 33 worst Naxal-affected districts as being very sensitive with the highest number of incidents having been reported in these areas in Lok Sabha elections in 2004 and 2009 and also during Assembly polls in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2013.
The Lok Sabha elections will be held between April 7 and May 12 on nine dates, the highest number of phases for a general elections so far. Counting of votes for all 543 constituencies will be done on May 16.
Along with the Lok Sabha polls, Assembly elections will also be held simultaneously in Andhra Pradesh, including in the Telangana region, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
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