Left wing extremism has declined steadily since 2010

Six Maoists were killed in an encounter in Maredumilli agency in Andhra Pradesh’s Alluri Sitarama Raju district on Tuesday (November 18, 2025). Among the killed were top Maoist commander Madvi Hidma, who was the Central Committee Member and South Bastar Battalion Commandant of the banned CPI (Maoist), and his wife Madakam Raje, the Chhattisgarh State Zonal Committee Member.

Seven more Maoists of the CPI (Maoist) were killed in an exchange of fire with the police in the Maredumilli forests on Wednesday (November 19, 2025). Metturi Joga Rao alias Tech Shankar, a top Maoist leader who was the CPI (Maoist) Central Committee Member in charge of Andhra Odisha Border (AOB), was among those killed.

Left Wing Extremism in Andhra Pradesh

Alluri Sitarama Raju is the only district in Andhra Pradesh that is currently affected with Left Wing Extremism (LWE), according to a respone provided in the Lok Sabha (on December 10, 2024) by Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai.

LWE violence in decline?

Since 2004, the CPI (Maoist) Party has been responsible for the majority of violence and killings among those perpetrated by Left Wing Extremists, as per the Ministry of Home Affairs. However, the movement appears to be dwindling. Incidents related to LWE violence are seeing a decline since 2010, when the insurgency was at its peak in the Red Corridor and the UPA-led government made the push for a massive counter-insurgency offensive.

This decline has continued under the NDA-led government, whose multipronged approach — outlined in the 2015 ‘National Policy and Action Plan to Address LWE’ — has now reached a stage where the Union government aims to make all affected districts “Naxal-free” by March 2026.

However, there was rise in violent incidents in 2022 and 2023 as per the graphic above. Mr. Rai’s answer in the Rajya Sabha in March 2025 attributes this to the increase in “counter LWE operations as the Security Forces commenced entering in the core areas of CPI (Maoist)”.

There are around 38 districts that have been identified as those which are affected by LWE, as per Mr. Rai’s answer in the Lok Sabha in December 2024. Fifteen of these are in Chhattisgarh. Mr. Rai’s March 2025 response cited above also states, “The LWE-affected districts have been reduced from 126 to 90 districts by April 2018, further to 70 by July 2021 and then to 38 by April 2024.”

In 2024, as many as 267 (or around 70%) of 374 incidents of violence were perpetrated by extremists in Chhattisgarh alone.

Deaths due to incidents related to LWE have also declined since 2010, as shown in the graphic below.