Bomb Kills 2 Indian Soldiers as Voting Begins in Bihar

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2014-04-10

A bomb set off by suspected Maoist rebels killed two Indian soldiers and wounded at least three as voting got underway in eastern India's Bihar state.

Authorities said a jeep carrying the soldiers to a polling station drove over a landmine in the Munger district.

Maoist insurgents have urged voters to stay away from the polls and threatened to disrupt the election.

Thursday's voting is the third stage of Indian parliamentary elections, which are spread out over a month to give hundreds of millions of voters the chance to cast ballots.

Voting commenced in India's capital, New Delhi, neighboring states of Haryana and some parts of northern Uttar Pradesh province, along with several regions in the east and south.

The Hindu nationalist opposition party, BJP, is looking to push out the Congress Party after a decade in power, promising to revitalize a stagnant economy.

Outgoing Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said it would be a disaster if the BJP's Narendra Modi becomes the new prime minister.

India's supreme court cleared Modi of charges of helping instigate ant-Muslim riots in Gujarat in 2002, killing around 1,000.

The United States canceled his visa.

Source: Voice of America

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