Maoists call for poll boycott in Wayanad

KOZHIKODE

:

Maoists

have put up banners and posters asking people to boycott Lok Sabha elections at Mundakkai under

Wayanad

constituency from where Congress president Rahul Gandhi is contesting the polls, on Monday.


Police said that the hand-written posters, issued in the name of Nadukani area committee of CPI (Maoists) were put up at Mundakkai under the Meppadi police station limits.

Several posters, urging plantation workers and others to boycott the polls, were found pasted on the walls of many buildings including in front of the UDF

election

committee office at Mundakkai.

The posters called upon people to shun ballots and instead join the popular resistance. They were removed by the police in the morning.

Wayanad district

police chief R Karuppasamy said that the Maoists are believed to have visited the area at around 2am on Monday.

“We have intensified the security in the area and all steps would be taken to ensure that the election process goes on smoothly,” Karuppasamy said.

According to police, a group of Maoists had visited a colony around 1.5km away from Mundakkai and had collected food from local residents late Sunday night.

The Kalpetta Press Club had on Saturday received a pamphlet issued by Maoists calling upon farmers in Wayanad constituency to boycott the elections saying that the successive governments in the country were implementing anti-farmer policies.

A five-member armed gang of Maoists had visited Makkimala in Wayanad on March 25 and had distributed copies of the bulletin of ‘Kabani Dalam’, which said that the killing of Maoist cadre C P Jaleel, who was gunned down in an encounter with the police on March 6, will be avenged.

Police are on high alert and security has been tightened especially in the wake of the candidature of Rahul Gandhi in the constituency.

Rahul is scheduled to visit the constituency in the third week of April for his second round of campaigning.