NEW DELHI/PATNA, 4 February 2005 — More than two dozen people were killed in electoral violence in the first phase of voting for three provincial legislatures yesterday.
In the biggest attack, six policemen and their civilian driver were killed in Jharkhand, one of the three states where voting was held.
The victims were killed by a land mine after escorting election staff to Palamau district, one of the many areas where Naxal rebels hold sway, senior police official M.P. Rao told reporters.
“There is no doubt about it. It is violence unleashed by the Maoists,” Rao said.
In the same area, four Naxals were killed when they tried to disrupt polling at Dandila village in Palamu district, police said. Their bodies were taken away by rebel colleagues. In the encounter three security men were also killed.
Palamau, known to be a hotbed of insurgency, is among 24 seats in the 81-member Jharkhand legislature going to the polls in the first phase yesterday.
Polling has been divided into three phases in Jharkhand and neighboring Bihar for security reasons. Both states are affected by Naxalite insurgency and poll officials said about 100,000 security personnel were on duty to ensure a smooth ballot.
Bihar too was subject to violence in areas affected by Naxalites. Three women and two home guards were killed and dozens others injured in attacks by Naxalites, explosions and encounters.
The banned CPI (Maoist) had given a poll boycott call in both the states, Bihar and Jharkhand. Attacks by Naxalites in Gaya district led to three deaths. A havaldar, a constable and a woman voter were gunned down by CPI (Maoist) Naxalites at booth No. 167 in Sankarpur village of Imamganj constituency in Gaya, police said. The extremists also took away five rifles and ammunition from the security personnel posted at the booth.
Elsewhere, two women were killed in the cross-fire between two rival political groups in Sasaram district, 200 kilometres (124 miles) southwest of Patna, police said.
Three other people were killed in the state, which witnessed a series of attacks by Maoists, clashes and crude bomb explosions during yesterday’s vote, police said.
About 32.4 million voters across Maoist-affected Jharkhand and Bihar provinces and the northern state of Haryana adjoining the Indian capital New Delhi voted in 178 constituencies.
Officials said nearly 55 percent of the electorate cast their ballots in the three states.
The rebels last week called for a boycott of the polls saying elections were no solution to the problems of the rural poor whom they claim to represent.
Thousands have died since the 1960s in rural India in uprisings by Maoist militants.
Bihar, where caste wars are frequent, has millions of unemployed youth and is considered to be India’s poorest and most lawless state.
The state averages about 2,000 murders, 1,200 robberies, 14,000 assaults and thousands of cases of rioting every year.
Orders to shoot on sight unruly supporters of candidates trying to rig votes or seize ballot boxes and overrun polling stations had been given to security personnel.
Abductions of school children and poor security were among the issues raised by political parties in the runup to the polls, embarrassing Bihar’s ruling RJD party headed by federal Railways Minister Lalu Yadav.
But the rescue of a 14-year-old schoolboy from his kidnappers on Wednesday, a day before the polls, gave Yadav’s party a pre-poll boost.
According to opinion polls, Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal was expected to retain power for another five-year term after being in office continuously since 1991.
Also going to the polls yesterday was the northern state of Haryana, neighboring the Indian capital New Delhi.
India’s ruling Congress is expected to win both Jharkhand and Haryana, prepoll surveys said.
— With input from agencies
