Malkangiri/Koraput (Odisha), Feb 11 (PTI) Odisha police will use drones to track any movement by Maoists during the coming rural polls in the state, its Director General of Police S K Bansal said on Friday.

Also Read | Nigerian Girl Born With Organs in Sac Outside Body Treated By Doctors in Gurugram.

Also Read | Goa Assembly Elections 2022: After Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Now JP Nadda Blames Jawaharlal Nehru For Delayed Liberation of Goa.

If required helicopters will be used in certain places to ensure smooth polling during the three-tier panchayat election in the state to be held in five phases between February 16 and 24, he told reporters in Malkangiri.

Bansal Friday visited Koraput and Swabhiman Anchal in Malkangiri and Kandhaml districts along with southern Odisha district superintendents of police to review the poll preparedness in Maoist affected areas.

The panchyat polls in Chitrakonda block in Malkangiri district could not be held in 2017 due to Maoist threat and there are reports that the outlawed CPI(Maoist) is making efforts to disrupt the coming panchayat poll in the state.

Police have intensified vigil after Maoist rebels killed at least two civilians in six days in Kalahandi and Kandhamal districts by detonating IEDs and put up posters in various LWE affected districts asking people to boycott the rural poll..

“Odisha police has taken all preparations for conducting a free and fair election. Drones will be deployed in Swabhiman Anchal during the elections. If required, helicopters will also be pressed into service,” Bansal told reporters.

Swabhiman Anchal is situated along the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border and had long been a stronghold of left-wing extremists.

Incidents related to LWE have spurted in areas in Kalahandi-Kandhamal-Boudh-Nayagarh division where the banned CPI(Maoist) operates and police are apprehensive that more ultras could enter Odisha during the panchayat poll.

Meanwhile, Odisha police and Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) staged a flag march in villages under Kotia panchayat in Koraput district during the day to infuse confidence among voters amidst reports that Andhra Pradesh was allegedly dissuading the people there from voting.

Both Odisha and Andhra Pradesh claim that villages in Kotia panchayat fall within their respective territories and a case regarding it is pending in the Supreme Court for long years. Andhra Pradesh had conducted rural polls in six of the total 28 villages in Kotia panchayat in 2021 and Odisha is doing so in all the villages this month.

As many as four platoons (one platoon comprise 30 personnel) of the police and IRB jawans carried out the flag-march in 13 wards of the Kotia gram panchayat besides other areas of Koraput district, officials said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)