Maoists in Bihar call for boycott of general elections

October 12th, 2009 RANCHI/PATNA - Maoists blew up a stretch of a railway track and set ablaze three trucks in Jharkhand as they began a two-day shutdown in Bihar and Jharkhand in protest against the Centre's alleged effort to put down the CPI (Maoists) movement by force. According to sources, the incident took place at around 2:30 a.m.

May 7th, 2009 SRINAGAR - Defying the boycott call given by the separatists, residents came out in large numbers to cast their votes in Kashmir on Thursday. Defying the boycott call, a large number of men and women stood outside the polling station waiting for their turn to cast their votes.

May 7th, 2009 SRINAGAR - Jammu and Kashmir's main city Srinagar has been shutdown to thwart planned protests by separatists against the fourth phase of general elections. Troops patrolled deserted streets in Srinagar, cutting off residential areas after separatists called for a two-day strike from Wednesday.

April 24th, 2009 MUZAFFARPUR - Five policemen were killed when Maoists triggered a landmine blast on a vehicle carrying a police patrolling party in Bihar's Muzaffarpur District late on Thursday. Five policemen died on the spot while the vehicle driver was reported as seriously injured.

April 23rd, 2009 SRINAGAR - The moderate faction of the Hurriyat conference on Thursday took a U-turn on its decision not to call for a poll boycott in Jammu and Kashmir and asked the people to stay away from ongoing general elections. Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said that election is no substitute to the wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

April 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - At least 17 people were killed as Maoist guerrillas targeted polling officials and security personnel across four insurgency hit states, giving a violent start to India's general elections. The states that were hit were Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Orissa, amongst the 17 states and union territories conducting elections in the first phase, where Maoists tried to implement their poll boycott in a hail of bullets and blasts.

April 15th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Maoists Wednesday felled trees, dug up roads in three districts of Orissa to create hurdles for the poll officials in the run-up to the first phase of elections Thursday, police said. The Maoists have called for a complete boycott of the polls.

April 15th, 2009 PATNA/RANCHI - Heavily armed Maoist guerrillas unleashed a wave of violence in Bihar and Jharkhand Wednesday, the day before the first phase of parliamentary elections, attacking camps of the Border Security Force (BSF) and ambushing a bus in which seven people were killed. All the attacks took place within a short while of each other, raising fears of violence during the elections.

April 8th, 2009 PATNA - Maoist guerrillas have put up handwritten posters in Bihar's Gaya district threatening villagers that their hands would be chopped if they vote in the general election. 'The hands of anyone casting a vote would be chopped,' read one poster in Hindi in Gaya district, about 100 km from here.

April 5th, 2009 PATNA - An outlawed Maoist outfit has expelled one of its senior leaders in Bihar for contesting the Lok Sabha elections, defying the group's poll boycott call. Ranjan Yadav alias Dinkar-ji, a member of the Bihar-Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh special area committee of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), was expelled for contesting from Chatra constituency in neighbouring Jharkhand, a statement issued by the outfit said Sunday.

March 26th, 2009 PATNA - Bihar has sought four Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters from the central government for aerial surveillance, particlarly in areas hit by Maoist insurgency, during the Lok Sabha elections in April-May. 'The government has sought four helicopters from the centre for aerial surveillance in Maoist affected districts during the polls,' said an official in the state home department.

March 24th, 2009 RAIPUR - The police Monday recovered the bodies of four tribals allegedly kidnapped by Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, officials said. 'The rebels had abducted four men, all aged around 30, late Sunday from Tarlaguda village.

March 19th, 2009 PATNA/RANCHI - The Bihar-Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh special area committee of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) has called for a boycott of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections on Wednesday. The Maoists issued a press release, which said that the coming Lok Sabha elections would give an opportunity to the political parties to misrule the country for another five years.

March 18th, 2009 PATNA/RANCHI - Maoist rebels have called for a boycott of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled in April and May, said a statement issued by the banned outfit Wednesday. The call was given by the Bihar-Jharkhand-Chattishgarh special area committee of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist).

March 17th, 2009 LATEHAR/CHATRA - Maoists in Jharkhand call for boycott of the general elections, which is scheduled to be held next month. In Latehar and Chatra district of Jharkhand, the Maoists have painted the walls with writings, threatening villagers from casting votes and with dire consequences if they take part in the polls.