Kanker: Victory of democracy over Maoism

The second phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was set for April 26, focusing on Chhattisgarh, a critical state where Maoists have been a serious issue. Three significant Maoist-infested constituencies—Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund, and Kanker—were set to vote in this phase.

As we have witnessed, ever since the state’s new BJP government was sworn in, a series of anti-Naxal operations have been executed against the Maoists, through which around a total of 80 Naxalites have been killed in just four months in 2024.

Apart from the encounters, more than 125 Naxalites have been arrested, while 150 have surrendered so far this year in Chhattisgarh. This shows the class ability of our security forces and the newly formed government in Chhattisgarh, which has taken the Naxal issue seriously and is obliterating the Maoists to their graves.

In the most recent encounter, which was executed in Kanker, a total of 29 Maoists were gunned down. It was one of the most successful, and it was one of the operations that killed the highest number of Maoists in a single operation to date. Prior to this encounter, there were multiple encounters where a total of 50 Maoists were killed in different operations in different regions of Chhattisgarh.

It’s usual before every Lok Sabha election that the Communist Party of India (Maoist) tries to stop people from casting their votes by making press releases, which they usually release a week or two before the elections in a particular polling area, which usually say, “Boycott the Lok Sabha elections.”

Further reading: “Everyone should join the fight for building a new democratic state!” This is the worst thing the Maoists can do to hamper democracy by simply stopping the people from casting their votes.

During elections, Maoists use different approaches to scare people and stop them from voting. They put up signs in polling areas, threatening to cut off fingers if anyone votes.

Also, they warn people not to vote by talking to them, and sometimes they even hurt or kill people to make others too scared to vote. They do all this to stop the basic and initial functioning of democracy.

Maoists have always wanted to eradicate the idea of democracy and democracy itself; they never wanted the people to go and cast their votes. It is so that they could come to power through their armed revolution against the current governance system and its forces, where they will form their own communist government.

But, apparently, we can see that all of that is just an illusion in their minds, as none of what they want has happened since, nor is it ever going to happen. The Maoists are currently on their knees; they have been surrendering frequently in numbers, as now they have nowhere to go and hide themselves to stay alive. Due to all these intense anti-Naxal operations, surrendering is the last option for these Maoists.

The terror of left-wing extremism is now not really like how it used to be earlier; people are collectively going to cast their votes. As witnessed in Kanker constituency yesterday, more than 35% of the electorate cast their votes just within the first four hours of polling. And, until 6 p.m., 73.50% of the electorate cast their votes.

This shows that the people are not at all scared by the Maoists now. Nowadays, people feel safe and secure as all the anti-Naxal operations have led to the suppression of left-wing extremism (LWE) to its core. This has been made possible by the continuous efforts of the security forces and the government collectively. Alongside, people know the value of their individual vote, and along with their efforts, democracy will remain intact forever.

Report by



Shomen Chandra
Intern, The Narrative