Amid threats from naxals, Gadchiroli braces for LS polls on April 11

Amid threat fromnaxalsoperating from the dense forests of Gadchiroli asking local tribals to boycott the upcoming Lok Sabha elections the district administration has begun preparations to tackle any untoward incident to ensure free and fair elections on April 11 in the regionThe constituency has around 1550 lakh registered voters who will choose among the five candidates contesting the GadchiroliChimur Lok Sabha seat reserved for the Scheduled TribesThe seat is currently held by Ashok Nete of the Bhartiya Janta Party BJP who had won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections with a margin of almost 236 lakh votes against the Indian National Congress INC candidate Namdeo Usendi In 2009 it was Marotrao KowaseINC who had defeatedNeteand won with a margin of 28000 votesLocals want developmentThere is some sense of optimism among locals in the region owing to the wide concrete roads and street lights being installed in the last couple of years ManojGarade a tea vendor at BardiArmorivillage said that the road leading to Gadchiroli was a narrow one but is now wide andconcretisedand an electricity pole has been put up which allows him to continue business postsunset and earn betterSimilar views were echoed by a tourist vehicle driver about better connectivity to remote villages with concrete roads that didnt exist earlierAnother local Vinay Poonekar is however skeptical about the Modi wave working in certain parts of the region especially the ones with a minority dominance Also with Nana Patole who is contesting from Nagpur this time instead of Bhandara where he had won the 2014 election using a BJP ticket joining hands with the Congress he might impact the BJPs vote share against GadkariAlso ReadElection 2019 PM Modi tears into Gandhi family flays dynastic ruleReady for DdayShekar Singh Collector and District Magistrate Gadchiroli said that his team was confident of conducting free and fair polls and that the district administration is capable of tackling any situation We have also trained the polling staff in using EVMs along with conducting mock voting drills for the tribals for a smooth sail on the election day Singh said adding that there were a few cases ofnaxalsputting up banners dissuading voters from participating in the elections But that wont impact the voter turnout he insistedDistrict Superintendent of Police Shailesh Balavde too stated that his force was ready to handle any situation Whenever such banners were put up in the past the public turnout for voting has always been in large numbers he added Director General of Police Maharashtra Subodh Jaiswal is also likely to monitor the situation at Gadchiroli on ThursdayRahul GandhiSecurity beefed up for RaGas Nagpur visitRahul Gandhi will be visiting Kasturchand Park Nagpur on Thursday evening where around 50000 people are expected to gather R Kadam Joint Commissioner of Police Nagpur City told midday that the Special Protection Group had on Wednesday apprised the local force of arrangements and the venue has been checked as per protocol The entire security will be supervised by Kadam himself with around 500 policemen and senior officers deployed at the venue apart from members of the Quick Response Team and State Reserve Police Force he saidAlso ReadMumbai Sushilkumar Shinde seeks Sharad Pawars blessings in his last pollNo roadshow is expected as per the program chart received but we have ordered for all flowers and boutiques to be screened before handing them over to Gandhi He is expected to address the crowd for less than an hour before heading to the airport Kadam added With 20naxalslodged in the Nagpur Central Jail happenings inside the jail and their visitors are being monitored tooAlso ReadElection 2019 BJP denies ticket to Kirit Somaiya pitches Manoj Kotak in North East MumbaiCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates