Once a Maoists Den: Voters Throng Polling Booths In Swabhiman Area To Exercise Their Franchise

Malkangiri: After more than a decade, people in the Swabhiman Anchal of Malkangiri have come forward in large numbers to cast their votes in the Panchayat Polls. Once regarded as the den of maoist activities, the Swabhiman Anchal has seen development as never before and the Maoist activities have diminished to almost nil. The people of Chitrakonda Block are voting in the fifth phase of the three-tier Pancayat Polls. Elections are being held in the 18 Panchayats of the Block and two Zilla Parishad Zones. The administration has put up 222 booths in which 41, 582 voters will cast their votes today. Out of these, 80 booths are identified as sensitive and 60 as very sensitive booths.

While the security forces have made all arrangements for the polls, the administration has taken the help of boats to ferry voters from the remote areas to bring them to vote. Due to prevalence of maoists, elections could not e held in the areas I the last one decade. But the developmental activities including the construction of the Gurupriya Setu have helped in bringing back the area to the mainstream. The security forces have also increased their presence in the area by putting up new operating bases.