With barely 48 hours remaining for the first phase of voting in the national election, BJP lawmaker from Dantewada Bhima Mandavi had wrapped up campaigning for the day and was travelling in a three-car convoy from Bacheli to Kuwakonda in the Maoist-hit district in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday afternoon. As the convoy made its way through Shyamagiri Hills, a thick forested and deserted area about 350 km from state capital Raipur, the lead car carrying Mr Mandavi was suddenly ripped apart in an explosion. It had crossed over an Improvised Explosive Device or IED planted under the tarmac by Maoists.
