Naxals blow up a bridge amid voting in Jharkhand; no injuries reported

Maoists blow up bridge in Gumla's Bishnupur

Maoists have blown up a bridge in Bishnupur in Gumla district, reports news agency ANI. No injuries have been reported. Deputy Commissioner Shashi Ranjan says voting not affected.

Voting in 13 constituencies across six districts in the first phase of Jharkhand assembly election is being held on Saturday.

Over 3.7 million electorate are voting to elect their representatives from among 189 candidates including 15 women. Prominent candidates in the fray are BJP nominee and Jharkhand health minister Ramchandra Chandravanshi and Jharkhand PCC president and ex-IPS officer Rameshwar Oraon. Oraon is taking on ex-PCC chief and sitting legislator Sukhdeo Bhagat, after the latter joined the BJP recently.

Seats for which polling is taking place are Chatra, Gumla, Bishunpur, Lohardaga, Manika, Latehar, Panki, Daltonganj, Bishrampur, Chhatarpur, Hussainabad, Garhwa and Bhawanathpur.

In all, 3,906 polling stations have been set up out of which 989 have webcasting facilities, an Election Commission release said. Polling personnel, deputed in remote areas, have been airlifted, EC officials said. A total of 1,097 booths have been declared hyper LWE sensitive, while 461 polling stations are LWE sensitive.