By Avinash PrasadBastar (Chhattisgarh) [India], September 7 (ANI): Hundreds of villagers in insurgency-hit Bastar division will get the opportunity to exercise their voting rights for the first time in the Chhattisgarh assembly elections that are slated to be held this year, as the poll body is going to set up polling centres at 40 villages for the maiden time.

Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh's naxal-hit Sukma, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar and Dantewada are going to be very special as the Election Commission will be establishing polling centres at villages where the centre has never opened.Earlier, these villages were inaccessible and Naxals were dominated in the region. The outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) used to dictate that whosoever will cast a vote will be punished. Due to adverse circumstances, villagers of these areas were deprived of exercising their voting rights.

Moreover, several senior citizens in these villages have never cast a vote while several have not exercised their franchise in the last 15 years due to naxalism.

In the last four years, over 63 camps of security forces have been established in the insurgency-hit Bastar division and it brings a positive shift in the region, Bastar Range Inspector General of Police (IG) Sundarraj P said.Ahead of the biggest festival of democracy, a team of ANI visited one such village'Chandameta', which was earlier deprived of basic facilities like roads, potable water, electricity, education, healthcare and others, to take stock of the situation. Once under dominance and fear of Naxalism, Chandameta will witness the setting up of a polling station in this assembly election.

"A total of 63 camps of security forces in interior and forested patches of Bastar region have been established in the last four years. Earlier, the polling centres of these places were shifted to other areas. But this year, our effort will be to ensure the establishment of maximum polling centres at these places and opening new centres as it will strengthen democracy," said Bastar Range Inspector General of Police (IG) Sundarraj P.

The IG further elaborated that the new generation will be able to exercise their voting rights for the first time. Similarly, the senior citizens, who were deprived of their voting rights due to the naxal threat, will also get the opportunity at the age of 60-70 years.

Our effort is to ensure a safe and secure environment for voters so that they could exercise their rights, he added.

"We are making extensive efforts to ensure the establishment of polling centres at over 40 places and the process is underway," said the IG.Speaking to ANI, villagers expressed their excitement towards participating in the election process.

Moreover, a former naxal cadre, who earlier stopped people from exercising their voting rights, was also seen changing his mindset and asking villagers to register their active participation in voting.