Shortly after voting began at 0700 hrs, Naxals triggered a landmine striking a bus ferrying Border Security Force personnel in Latehar district in Jharkhand which five personnel and two civilians were killed.
In Bihar, a homeguard and a police personnel on election duty were shot dead and another injured by Naxals in Singhpur village in Gaya district, police said. Two other police personnel were missing.
Two polling booths were set on fire and polling machines snatched in Dantewada and Narainpur in another Naxal-infested state Chhattisgarh by the Left-wing extremists who also triggered IED blasts and exchanged fire with security forces. One CRPF personnel was killed in the clashes.
Maoists also set afire at least three polling booths, electronic voting machines and other materials in Orissa's Malkangiri district today, disrupting voting.
Voting began on a moderate note in 124 constituencies spread across 15 states and two union territories during which the fate of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha and TRS president K Chandrasekar Rao will be decided. There are 1,715 candidates in the fray.
Over 14.31 crore voters are eligible to cast their ballot on Thursday across 1.85 lakh polling stations set up by the Election Commission and secured by tens of thousands of police personnel.
Elections to 154 Assembly segments in Andhra Pradesh and 70 in Orissa are also being held on Thursday. Polling began on a moderate note in Jammu-Poonch parliamentary constituency which included areas in the border region.
In Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam voters turned up in large numbers at the polling booths to exercise their franchise.
Voting would end at 1700 hrs in most places, except in Naxal-infested areas where it would close at 1500 hrs. Initial reports said 10 to 12 per cent of votes were polled in the first two hours in Arunachal Pradesh and 20 per cent in Assam.
While all 20 seats in Kerala, 11 in Chhattisgarh and two each in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya went to polls in a single phase today, polling is underway in 13 out of 40 seats in Bihar, 16 out of 80 in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra 13 (48), Andhra Pradesh 22 (42), Jharkhand 6 (14), Orissa 10 (21), Assam 3 (14), Manipur 1 (2) and Jammu and Kashmir 1 (6).
The lone seats in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Mizoram and Nagaland are also covered in the first phase.
Prominent among those seeking elections to the lower house of Parliament are Union Ministers Praful Patel, Renuka Chowdhury, D Purandeswari, Santosh Mohan Dev, Meira Kumar, Rameshwar Oraon and E Ahamed and BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy, former UN Under-Secretary General Shashi Tharoor and south Indian actress Vijaya Shanti.
As has become customary, voters were exercising their franchise through Electronic Voting Machines.
Tight security arrangements have been made for the polls with Central paramilitary forces being deployed along with the security forces of the states.
State borders have been sealed to prevent movement of criminal elements and liquor. Other phases of Lok Sabha polls are due on April 23, 30 and May seven and 13. A minor scuffle between UDF and LDF workers broke out after LDF workers protested Congress candidate from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor speaking to reporters, who bombarded him with questions, outside a booth in Jawahar Nagar in the city.
The protesters alleged that this created problems for other voters. The situation, however, was defused by police immediately.
