60% turnout in first phase, Naxals kill 18

Polling booths were set on fire.

Approximately 60 per cent voting was reported in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections, conducted in 17 states and Union Territories on Thursday.

Violence kept its date with this election too, with Naxals killing 18 people, including 5 poll officials and 10 security personnel, in four states.

Along with 124 Lok Sabha seats, elections were also held for 70 Assembly seats in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

Orissa witnessed sporadic incidents of firing and arson by Naxals in Malkangiri and Sundargarh districts. However, voter turnout was encouraging in the Naxal-infested districts like Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput and parts of Ganjam.

Heavily-armed Naxals went into action shortly after voting began this morning, blasting landmine to target a bus ferrying Border Security Force personnel in Jharkhand’s Latehar district. The attack left seven personnel and two civilians dead.

Naxals also blew up a vehicle carrying poll officials in Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon district, killing five of them and trading gunfire with security forces, resulting in killing of two CRPF men.

Polling booths were set on fire and there was exchange of fire between Naxals and security forces in Dantewada and Narainpur areas of the state that left two CRPF jawan dead and five others injured.

“Considering the complexity and the challenges, the Election Commission is totally satisfied with today's polling,” Deputy Election Commissioner R Balakrishnan told reporters here.