A total 61.92 per cent votes were cast in the first phase of polls in 13 of the 81 assembly seats in Jharkhand amidst sporadic incidents of damage to Electronic Voting Machines.
About 65.46 per cent electorate on Tuesday exercised their franchise in the second of the five-phase polling for the 20 Maoist-hit assembly constituencies as the day passed off peacefully.
'The situation has improved because oxygen tankers are now coming.' 'Before this it was chaotic.'
Bereaved families of Sukma bravehearts have demanded justice and questioned the intelligence failure and government inaction.
Concerned over high incidents of violence, the Home ministry has asked the Election Commission to conduct the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in 33 Naxal-hit districts in the first phase to ensure maximum security and minimum casualties.
More than two lakh paramilitary personnel, thousands of vehicles and nearly a dozen helicopters will be deployed across the country to ensure smooth and violence-free elections beginning April 7.
The stories of exclusions illustrate so tragically, the need of the hour is to bolster biometrics and 'smart' technologies with something more old-fashioned - the good old fashioned, compassionate human touch, says Geetanjali Krishna.
This classification of districts is to be followed by states and union terrotories till a week post May 3, when the second phase of lockdown will end, for containment operations.
