Over 55 per cent turnout in Phase 2, stray violence by naxals

New Delhi, Apr 23 (PTI) More than 55 percent of the
nearly 200 million Indians Thursday exercised their franchise
in the second phase of Lok Sabha polling across 12 states
which was by and large peaceful barring stray violence in
naxal-infested areas of Jharkhand and Bihar.

Two poll officials and a magistrate had a narrow escape
when Maoists carried out blasts in Bihar and Jharkhand where
security forces repulsed a naxalite bid to disrupt the second
phase of elections after a fierce hour-long gunbattle.

An executive magistrate Rajendra Prasad and a
constable were wounded when Maoists lobbed a bomb at their
vehicle near Dadi-Srirampur village in Giridh district in
Jharkhand. They were going to a polling station in the
district, about 200km from Ranchi.

In a separate incident, security forces foiled the
Maoists' attempt to disrupt polling in Bansdera in East
Singhbhum, 165 km from the Jharkhand capital, after a fierce
hour-long gunbattle with the ultras.

However, the violence in the second and the largest
phase covering 140 seats was much less compared to the first
one a week ago when 18 people were killed by naxals in Bihar,
Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan
Gaur cast his vote at a polling station in Gauhati Lok Sabha
segment in Assam amid high security.

The second phase of the five-round elections saw the
electoral fate of a number of political heavyweights,
including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (Amethi), NCP chief
Sharad Pawar (Madha), Union Commerce and Industry Minister
Kamal Nath (Chhindwara), LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan (Hajipur)
and BJP leader Sushma Swaraj (Vidisha) being sealed.

With the conclusion of polling in the second phase,
voters have given their verdict on 265 Lok Sabha seats (after
125 in the opening round), seven short of the majority in the
543-strong Lok Sabha.

Among the 12 states and union territories which went to
poll today, Andhra Pradesh, where the outcome could shape
Congress' comeback bid at the Centre, recorded 68 per cent,
followed by Orissa (55 per cent), Maharashtra (56 per cent),
Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (44 each), Karnataka (55), Madhya
Pradesh (45), Jharkhand (47) and Jammu and Kashmir (46).

Brisk polling was reported from all the 140
constituencies spread across 12 states in the second round of
the five-phased elections which would end at 1700 hrs in most
places, except in naxal-infested areas where it would close at
1500 hrs.

Deputy Election Commissioner R Balakrishnan
told reporters here that the Commission was extremely
satisfied with the polls which was "incident-free".

He said over 10.72 lakh polling personnel were
involved in today's exercise which was videographed by 26,000
cameras.

He said there were incidents of snatching and damaging
of EVMs in Andhra Pradesh and a detailed inquiry would be
conducted and on that basis repolling would be ordered.

Noting that over 24,000 polling stations in 27
parliamentary constituencies faced naxal threat, Balakrishnan
said security personnel handled the situation effectively.

He said repoll would be conducted in 146 polling
stations in Bihar and 58 polling stations in Jharkhand which
went to polls in the first phase on April 16. PTI SPC
SAK
NNNN