In 2008, Dhurve was assigned to a polling booth deep inside Maoist territory.

Fifty-six-year-old Bir Singh Dhurve stood in a tent waiting for the number of his bus to be called out. Dhurve is a headmaster of a school in Dantewada, but on Monday, he will be one of the many polling officials conducting elections in Bastar, the country’s most-affected area as far as Left-wing extremism is concerned. And on Sunday, as he waited, he could not help but remember events from a decade ago, when he was part of the same process and came across Maoists who seized the EVM machine he was meant to protect.

The year was 2008, and Dhurve, then a teacher, was assigned to a polling booth in Tetral in Konta block of Sukma district, deep inside what was then, and is still Maoist territory. “We left at 5 in the morning, but the police was weaker then, and only went a little way. They told the four of us to go ahead on our own,” Dhurve said.

Almost immediately after they reached the ramshackle school that was meant to be the polling station around 7 am and began setting up, they were surrounded by 50 Maoists. “Some were in uniform, others in plain clothes. Some carried guns and the others had bows and arrows. They asked us why we were there. We told them we only wanted to do our duty. They took away the EVM and told us not to return. In two hours, we were back at the Konta police station,” he said.

Dhurve said his team returned to the police station where officers tried to persuade them to try again. But they refused, given the threat they received. “The police kept us in the police station for a week to record our accounts. Then there was no mobile connectivity and my family got worried. I could only send a message to them after a few days,” he said.

On this occasion, Dhurve said that he was glad that he has been given a polling station close to Dantewada. “This is much better. The only danger nowadays is if something happens to your bus when you are going and coming. I have told my family not to worry, This time we will be in contact throughout,” he said.

But even though Dhurve admits that there is an element of fear, he would rather be part of the process than not.

“I feel pride that I am trying to get democracy to Bastar and increase it. I wish the elections go smoothly and there is no violence. The country will grow if this happens,” he said