Mumbai/Chandigarh/Itanagar:
Moderate to heavy polling was on Tuesday registered in the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh amid sporadic incidents of violence in which a polling agent was killed and Naxals attacked a patrol party and a booth.
While an estimated 80 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise in Arunachal Pradesh, the turnout was around 50 per cent in Haryana and about 60 per cent in Maharashtra till about 1500 hrs, poll officials said.
The 48-year-old polling agent, Jyoti Ram, was killed in a clash between supporters of Congress nominee Dillu Ram and Independent candidate Kulwant Bazigar in Gulha assembly constituency in Haryana's Kaithal district, police said. He represented Bazigar.
In Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district where 17 policemen were shot dead by the Maoists on October 8, naxalites opened fire at a patrol party near Kasansur in Aheri block shortly before polling commenced. No one was injured, police said, adding security forces did not retaliate.
In another incident, Naxals opened fire at a polling station at Bonde in Korchi taluka of the district. While no one was hurt, additional forces were despatched by an airforce chopper, Manoj Sharma, ASP, Gadchiroli, said.
Over 1.29 lakh state police and central forces were deployed across the state to ensure orderly polling in 288 Assembly seats, DGP (Elections) A N Roy said adding that the incidents did not hamper the polling process.
Union Ministers Sharad Pawar and Vilasrao Deshmukh, industrialist Anil Ambani, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar were among the prominent voters.
While an estimated 80 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise in Arunachal Pradesh, the turnout was around 50 per cent in Haryana and about 60 per cent in Maharashtra till about 1500 hrs, poll officials said.
The 48-year-old polling agent, Jyoti Ram, was killed in a clash between supporters of Congress nominee Dillu Ram and Independent candidate Kulwant Bazigar in Gulha assembly constituency in Haryana's Kaithal district, police said. He represented Bazigar.
In Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district where 17 policemen were shot dead by the Maoists on October 8, naxalites opened fire at a patrol party near Kasansur in Aheri block shortly before polling commenced. No one was injured, police said, adding security forces did not retaliate.
In another incident, Naxals opened fire at a polling station at Bonde in Korchi taluka of the district. While no one was hurt, additional forces were despatched by an airforce chopper, Manoj Sharma, ASP, Gadchiroli, said.
Over 1.29 lakh state police and central forces were deployed across the state to ensure orderly polling in 288 Assembly seats, DGP (Elections) A N Roy said adding that the incidents did not hamper the polling process.
Union Ministers Sharad Pawar and Vilasrao Deshmukh, industrialist Anil Ambani, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar were among the prominent voters.
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