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Last round of

Indian state

elections begin

PATNA: Voting was underway on Tuesday in the last round of state elections in India, with police in the eastern state of Bihar under shoot-to-kill orders following violence that claimed 30 lives in the first two stages.

Bihar Police Chief K K Jacob told AFP there were no incidents of violence or electoral fraud reported in the first few hours of polling in the state's remaining 108 constituencies.

Re-polling was also held at 110 voting centres where the Election Commission ruled that violence and vote-rigging had been so widespread as to necessitate a fresh ballot.

As well as Bihar, voting was on in Haryana, Manipur and Orissa states. The elections are the first major popularity test for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist BJP party, since it returned to power at the head of a multi-party coalition four months ago.

They are also being seen as an acid test for opposition leader Sonia Gandhi, whose leadership has come under sharp scrutiny since her Congress party suffered its worst defeat yet in last year's general elections.

Some 96 million voters were eligible to take part in the state polls, which had been staggered over three voting days to ensure adequate security. Polling in the far eastern state of Manipur was marred by attacks on polling booths by separatist guerrillas fighting for an independent homeland. A police spokesman said militants attacked at least three polling stations near the state capital Imphal and "snatched ballot papers, boxes, besides other materials at gun point".

An election official said polling was yet to pick up in some remote areas where people were "scared to exercise their franchise," for fear of rebel attacks.

Despite the violence in the previous two rounds of voting in Bihar, police chief Jacob argued that the state's reputation for criminality was unjustified.ÑAFP