Manipur polls: NSCN, civilians killed

At least five people, including a woman and an underground NSCN (IM) militant, died in poll violence in Manipur's Chandel district on Saturday. The state is undergoing Assembly election.

"The dead included a CRPF personnel and three civilians, including a woman. The attacker was a Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN)´s Isak Muivah ultra," Chandel Superintendent of Police (SP) Priyo Kumar told IBNS.

The NSCN man was trying to capture the booth at Tampi with a firearm leading to a crossfire, Kumar said.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, the civilians and the ultra died on the spot.

Three CRPF personnel were injured in the firing that occurred shortly after noon.

Around 40 percent voters cast their ballots till noon since voting started in Manipur on Saturday morning to elect a new Assembly.

Voting is underway in Manipur for the far-flung northeastern state's 60 Assembly constituencies amidst tight security.

Voters lined up before 2,357 polling stations across the Manipur's nine districts with a collective electorate of 17,40,576, including 8,82,236 women.

This time, for the state's 10th Assembly polls, 279 candidates are in the fray.

A total of 12,967 polling personnel have been deployed to conduct the elections which began at 7 am and would continue till 4 pm.

About 350 companies of security personnel, including 270 central para military forces, along with 30,000 Manipur Police personnel have been deployed.

Three helicopters have also been pressed into service to carry out air surveillance in state where the that has witnessed five bomb attacks in the last two days.