The Union home ministry on Wednesday said that the number of districts affected by “Left-wing extremism” has come down to 11 from 18 in March.

In 2013, 126 districts across different states had reported “Naxal-related violence”, the ministry said in a statement.

In 2025, the number of “most affected” districts has also come down from six to three, it added. These are Bijapur, Sukma and Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh.

The statement came on a day when Mallojula Venugopal Rao, alias Bhupathi, a central committee member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), surrendered in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Along with Bhupathi, who carried a reward of Rs 6 crore on his head, 60 suspected Maoists also surrendered to security forces.

In its statement on Wednesday, the ministry said that 312 “Left-wing extremism” cadres had been “eliminated”, including the general secretary of the CPI (Maoist).

Nambala Keshav Rao, the general secretary of the banned outfit, was among 27 suspected Maoists killed in a gunfight with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur on May 21.

“836 LWE cadres have been arrested and 1,639 have surrendered and joined the mainstream,” the ministry said. “The surrendered Naxalites include one polit bureau member and a central committee member.”

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday also said that “historic milestone in eliminating Naxalism” had been achieved.

“Today, the number of most affected districts reduced from six to just three, and affected districts to 11 from 18,” Shah said on social media. “Under [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi Ji’s vision for a terror-free India, tireless counter-insurgency operations and people-centric development are shrinking the space of the left wing extremists leaving no place for them to hide.”

The minister added that India would be free from “the menace of Naxalism” by March 31, 2026.

The Union government has repeatedly vowed to end Maoism by that date.

Malini Subramaniam has reported for Scroll that while many of those killed in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region in 2024 were declared by the police to be reward-carrying Maoists, several families dispute the claim. The families claim that the persons killed were civilians.

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