The ambush occurred at the Shyamagiri hills when the MLA’s convoy was heading to Kuwakonda from the Bacheli area, which is about 450 km from the State capital Raipur. The Maoists blew up a vehicle in the convoy with an improvised explosive device (IED) and opened fire at its occupants.
Image Courtesy: PTI
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Bhima Mandavi and four security personnel were killed on Tuesday when their convoy was attacked by suspected Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district. The attack comes two days before the first phase of the Lok Sabha election begins in the State.
Dantewada falls in the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency in Chhattisgarh, which goes to the polls on April 11.
The Election Commission said the first phase of polling in the State would be held as per schedule.
The ambush occurred at the Shyamagiri hills when the MLA’s convoy was heading to Kuwakonda from the Bacheli area, which is about 450 km from the State capital Raipur. The Maoists blew up a vehicle in the convoy with an improvised explosive device (IED) and opened fire at its occupants. Security forces were rushed to the area, police sources said.
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The killed security personnel were identified as driver Danteshwar Maurya and District Force jawans Chhagan Kuldeep, Somdu Kawasi and Ramlal Oyami.
For the elections on April 11, a security blanket of over 80,000 personnel, and drones, has been deployed in and around the Bastar region.
Immediately after the Dantewada Naxal attack, the State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) held a meeting on video-conferencing with collectors and SPs of the Maoist-affected districts covering Phase-I and Phase-2 elections.
The CEO instructed them to take utmost precaution over the next few days in view of polls that would be conducted as per schedule, said the EC spokesperson.
Preliminary findings suggest that against the advice of an area police station in-charge, Mandavi had taken a route where there was no road-opening party of security personnel, the Commission was told.
Mandavi was a senior BJP leader in the area. He had lost the 2013 assembly election from Dantewada, defeated by Devati Karma, wife of Congress leader Mahendra Karma who was killed in a similar attack in Sukma.
In 2018 assembly polls, the BJP again fielded Mandavi from Dantewada. He pulled off a narrow win even when his party lost in the state. He was the lone BJP candidate to win from Bastar region which accounts for 12 assembly seats.
According to reports, the administration had tried to dissuade Mandavi from campaigning in the area due to the Maoist threat.
