Employees of the Election Commission are transported in helicopters by the Naxals in Bastar

With tight security in place, the government on Tuesday began a trial run to fly poll workers in helicopters to the Naxalite-infested Bastar district in Chhattisgarh, where the first round of the polls, scheduled for April 19, would be held.

According to a senior source, the authorities have begun sending polling teams and electronic voting machines (EVMs) to booths in vulnerable regions of the Sukma and Bijapur districts.

Bijapur and Sukma districts, which are in the southern portion of the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency, have previously recorded many instances of Naxalite assaults on electoral security officers.

Bijapur collector Anurag Pandey said that 245 voting booths have been put up for the general elections, of which 99 booths have been moved (to safer sites) in the interior districts.

Three days before to the voting, on Tuesday, the exercise started from the Bijapur district headquarters. Approximately 76 polling parties would be transported to their locations using helicopters, he added. According to him, teams that arrive at their places before election day will remain in the closest security force camp. He stated that on Tuesday, at least 27 voting teams and EVMS will be flown in helicopters from the Sukma district headquarters.