EC offers fresh voting in Maoist area of Maharashtra

October 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - About 60 to 72 per cent voting was witnessed in Tuesday's Assembly elections held in three States-Maharashtra, Haryana, and Arunachal Pradesh amidst sporadic violence in which one polling agent was killed. Maharashtra registered 60 per cent turnout of voters while Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh saw a much higher polling of 66 per cent and 72 per cent respectively, said Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla in a press conference here.

October 12th, 2009 MUMBAI - The Maharashtra government has received intelligence inputs that Maoists from neighbouring states have infiltrated into the state to foment trouble during voting for the assembly elections Tuesday, a senior police official said here Monday. "We have got intelligence reports that Maoists are infiltrating here from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

October 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Ahead of Maharashtra assembly polls, chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla has said that voters should go with their families at polling booths in order to prevent bogus voting. "It is necessary because the ration cards in Maharashtra do not carry photos of the family members.

July 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Villagers in Saraikela region of Jharkhand have claimed that the government has been using the Maoist threat as an excuse for shirking away from initiating development projects in the region. "The government says that it is a Maoist affected area.

June 12th, 2009 BOKARO - Thirteen security personnel were killed in two separate Maoist attacks in Jharkhand's Bokaro district Friday, police said. Maoists attacked a State Bank of India (SBI) branch near Fusro market of Bokaro town on Friday afternoon, killing two personnel of the state police, who foiled their attempt to loot money from the bank.

June 12th, 2009 RANCHI - Eleven policemen were killed in separate Maoist attacks in Bokaro district of Jharkhand Friday, police said. According to police, Maoists attacked a State Bank of India (SBI) branch near Fusro market of Bokaro town Friday afternoon, killing two personnel of the state police.

April 30th, 2009 MUMBAI - An estimated 45 percent voters exercised their franchise in 10 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra - spread across Mumbai and Thane - as voting concluded peacefully in the third and final phase Thursday evening, an election department official said. Despite the presence of top filmstars, industrialists and celebrities, the constituencies spread across Mumbai and Thane notched only around 31 percent voting till 3 p.m., the official said.

April 23rd, 2009 PATNA - Voting for the second phase of parliamentary elections in 13 of the 40 constituencies in Bihar began Thursday morning amid heavy security arrangements. Voters started queueing up at many of the 17,130 polling stations much before the 7 a.m.

April 23rd, 2009 MUMBAI - Voting ended Thursday evening in 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra with an average of around 50 percent of the electorate exercising their franchise. 'The average voting was 14.4 percent till 11 a.m., and was 36 percent at 3 p.m.

April 16th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Hundreds of villagers in two Orissa districts Thursday stayed away from the elections due to the poll-boycott threat by Maoists who attacked four polling stations and burnt several voting machines during the first phase of ballotting in the state, officials said. Maoists gave a call to boycott polls across the state and even threatened to chop off the hands of people who go to cast their votes.

April 16th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Maoist rebels attacked at least four polling stations and set fire to several electronic voting machines (EVMs) and a vehicle in Orissa while voting for the first phase of general and assembly elections was underway Thursday, police said. 'The rebels attacked four polling booths - three in Malkangiri district and one in Sundergarh district.

April 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Millions voted across India Thursday in the first round of elections to pick a new parliament in the world's largest democracy, but the exercise was marred by extremist violence that left 19 people dead in three states. At least 50 percent of the 143 million voters - of the country's 714 million - exercised their franchise in 124 constituencies in 15 states and two union territories in the start of one of India's most bitterly fought elections that are expected to throw up another splintered Lok Sabha.

April 16th, 2009 MUMBAI - Maharashtra witnessed 54 percent voter turnout in 13 Lok Sabha constituencies that went to polls in the first phase Thursday, an election commission official said. Voting, which started on a dull note at 7 a.m., failed to pick up even after four hours with the figure at just above 14 percent at noon.

April 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - As many as 23,000 villages that go to polls in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections Thursday have been identified as 'vulnerable' from a security point of view, the Election Commission said Tuesday. The poll panel has made adequate security arrangements to ensure free and fair elections, Deputy Election Commissioner R.

March 3rd, 2009 MUMBAI - Maharashtra goes to the polls over three phases on April 16, 23 and 30 to elect its 48 representatives to the Lok Sabha. Voting for the two Lok Sabha constituencies in Goa will be held on April 23, the Election Commission announced Monday.