Polling peaceful in Bihar

An Indian paramilitary soldier stands alert outside a polling station as voters stand in queues for casting their votes in the third round of the four-phase state assembly elections yesterday in Darvanga, Bihar.. PHOTO: AFP

"Polling for the third phase of the assembly elections ended peacefully with not even a single incident of major violence," said K.J. Rao, state election commissioner.

The turnout, however, was a low 40 to 45 percent despite the fact many first-time voters had lined up to cast their ballots.

"Many people I visited said they were voting for the first time," said Rao.

Minor clashes in three districts between rival political groups had left 10 people injured, officials said.

Some 73,000 paramilitary troopers backed by police in the eastern state had guarded the balloting in the third round of the four-phase state assembly elections, called after a February vote failed to produce a clear winner.

"Security forces have been armed with orders to shoot booth-grabbers and criminals on sight," Bihar police chief Ashish Ranjan Sinha said ahead of the vote, referring to the popular practice of taking over voting stations and stuffing ballot boxes. Sinha added that riot police on horseback had patrolled some of the 12,786 polling stations.

Bihar home secretary H.C. Sirohi said India's elite frontier guards have been called in to reinforce security at constituencies on the borders with Nepal.

"Indian Air Force helicopters have been also pressed in for aerial surveillance," Sirohi said in the state capital Patna.

Sirohi said the state had sealed its borders with Nepal to prevent cross-border violence by Maoist rebels, who have strong influence in seven of the 11 districts where the balloting was taking place.

India's Home Ministry has warned that Maoist rebel groups within the country are cooperating with guerrillas in Nepal, where a leftist insurgency has claimed more than 12,000 lives since 1996.

"The Border Security Force are patrolling the rivers as well," Sirohi said, referring to the borders between Bihar and the troubled Himalayan kingdom.

The porous borders, which also include jungle areas, were guarded by troops from both sides, he said.

India's Maoist-linked People's War Group, which is outlawed, enjoys widespread support among Bihar's marginal farmers and had called for a poll boycott, labelling the election a sham backed by feudal landlords.

The election commission has staggered the poll to assure security.

Polling in the first two rounds was largely peaceful, although two men were killed in election-linked violence.

Some 12 million people had been eligible to vote on Sunday.

With 80 million people, Bihar is India's second most populous state after neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and a make-or-break battleground for political parties.

It is also India's most lawless state, with police recording at least 5,000 murders and 12,000 abductions a year.