Tens of thousands of people from remote Maoist insurgency-hit villages in central India will cast their maiden vote in the national elections on Friday as the world’s largest democracy kickstarts its marathon polls. Authorities are ferrying election staff in military helicopters and by road to set up more than 100 polling stations in largely inaccessible dense forests of the notorious Maoist stronghold of Bastar region in Chhattisgarh state, that will see nearly 100,000 voters exercise their right to vote for the first time in the region. New Delhi has pumped in millions of dollars to improve road infrastructure and connectivity in the mineral-rich tribal region and has deployed tens of thousands of security forces to crush the decades-long left-wing rebellion that aims to overthrow the state. “We’re excited and we’ll vote in our village,” says Budhram Kavasi, 36, from Sitapal village in Sukma, of Bastar region. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES ARRANGED IN SEQUENCES