Patna, April 10
Two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed in a landmine blast in Munger district of Bihar. They were on their way to a polling station in neighbouring Jamui parliamentary constituency.

The blast was triggered by Maoists near Sawa Lakh Baba Mandir close to Bhimbandh forest in Munger, around 175 km from Patna.

"Maoists targeted a police vehicle in which CRPF and Bihar Police officials were going to conduct polling in Jamui. The incident took place nearly an hour before the start of polling,” a district police official said.

Additional Director General of Police Ravinder Kumar said the injured security personnel were admitted to a hospital. Security forces also recovered two crude bombs in Gaya parliamentary constituency.

The six constituencies that went to polls Thursday have 80 candidates, including 10 women, in the fray.

Prominent candidates include Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Bihar Assembly Speaker Uday Narain Choudhary, former Kerala governor and Delhi Police chief Nikhil Kumar, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan's son Chirag Paswan, and former union minister Kanti Singh.

Ignoring a boycott call by Maoists, enthusiastic voters queued up outside polling booths in urban as well as in rural areas since morning.

Bihar Chief Secretary AK Sinha said tight security arrangements had been made for the polls. — IANS