Firing at polling booth during panchayat polls in Bihar's Aurangabad

An incident of firing was reported from Bihar's Aurangabad district during the first phase of Panchayat elections on Friday.

The incident happened in booth number 144 and 145 of the Bsaini village in Aurangabad district.

The electoral officials claimed that the firing took place in a bid to capture booths and do bogus voting in favour of a particular candidate. No one was reported injured in the firing.

The security personnel present at the booth managed to take control of the situation. Following the incident, many voters, who had assembled in queues to vote, ran away. The SDO and SDPO immediately reached the village to normalise the situation.

The first phase of voting for 151 Panchayats in 10 districts is currently underway. All these districts are naxal affected districts like Aurangabad, Rohtas, Jamui, Arwal, Gaya, Kaimur, Nawada, Banka, Jahanabad and Munger.

According to an official of the Election Commission of Bihar, EVMs are being used for voting for the four posts such as Panchayat member, Mukhiya, Panchayat committee member and member of district council. The ballot box is being used for voting of Panch and Sarpanch.

The State Election Commission has deployed security personnel to conduct a peaceful poll in 10 districts. A total of 156 polling stations fall under the Naxal affected areas.