Maoists raid polling centre during second phase of Bihar polls

SITAMARHI: Heavily-armed Maoists on Sunday raided a polling centre and burnt electronic voting machines in Sitamarhi district of Bihar, where the second phase of elections to 45 assembly constituencies are being held under the shadow of Maoist boycott call.

The Maoists raided the polling centre at Subaigarh under Runisaidpur constituency and burnt some poll material early this morning before voting began, Superintendent of Police Rakesh Rakhi said. Substitute polling material, including EVMs, was rushed to the booth and voting began as per schedule, Rakhi said.

Maoists have given a call for election boycott in Bihar and the incident was stated to be part of their design to enforce the call.

The polling is being held in the backdrop of Maoists triggering a landmine blast in Sheohar district on Friday night killing six policemen. The Election Commission has changed the poll timings in some constituencies after the violence.

An electorate of 8.44 lakh are expected to exercise their franchise deciding the fate of 623 candidates, including 46 women at 10,315 polling stations in six districts.

The Congress and the BSP are contesting all the seats. The ruling JD(U) is contesting 28 seats and its ally BJP 17. The RJD is in the fray in 34 constituencies, while LJP in 11.

CPM and CPI have put up eight candidates each, while CPI-ML (Liberation) is contesting in 11 seats.