Bhubaneswar, Dec 20 (IANS): Odisha Police on Wednesday held a crucial conference of various stakeholders on Left Wing Extremism (LWE), with a focus on complete elimination of the Maoist menace in the state by revisiting the strategy, and to ensure an incident-free general elections next year.

Inaugurating the conference here, DGP Sunil Bansal said, "Both the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are going to be held in 2024 and we need to remain cautious so that the polls are held without any untoward incident. Though our forces have an upper hand, Maoists are putting posters indicating their presence in some pockets of the state."

Bansal also said that the major focus is now on Kalahandi and Boudh axis, which has emerged as the new flash point for Maoist activities.

He hoped that combined efforts by all the stakeholders will have a decisive advantage in the fight against Maoists.

Sanjeeb Panda, Director of Intelligence, said that Maoists may try to carry out demonstrative acts of violence in the run up to the general elections to make their presence felt and boost the morale of the rank and file and hence, the security forces must remain watchful to this.

The participants stressed upon the need to further strengthen intelligence gathering mechanisms and intensify anti-LWE operations in the affected areas with special focus on Boudh.