People’s Union of Democratic Rights (PUDR) on Wednesday condemned the Maoist attack in Dantewada in which BJP legislator Bhima Mandavi and four others were killed. PUDR demanded violence-free election as the attack was carried out two days before polls in Chhattisgarh. “The incident is a serious attack on democratic institutions and processes. Election boycott is part of Maoist ideology and they uniformly boycott elections and campaign for others to do so,” the PUDR said in a statement.
It added that while election boycott is a familiar and democratic form of political protest undertaken by many organisations, such attacks are unacceptable.
The union called upon all political parties and individuals engaging with elections to eschew perpetrating, inciting and condoning violence, including that based on caste and community, in order to further their political aims.