India on high alert as polls begin today

NEW DELHI, April 10 (Agencies): India went on high security alert Wednesday ahead of the start of its marathon election Thursday, after a campaign dominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership that has focused on keeping the country safe from attack.

A bomb blast Tuesday blamed on Maoist rebels killed five people, including a lawmaker campaigning for Modi, heightened fears of election bloodshed.

Some 80,000 troops, police and paramilitaries will be deployed in troubled Chhattisgarh state -- where the attack was carried out -- when voting starts Thursday, state police chief D.M Awasthi said.

Maoist rebels are behind many of the long-simmering insurgencies in at least nine Indian states.

But the Election Commission, which organises the world's biggest democratic election with 900 million eligible voters choosing 543 MPs, insisted the attack would not change its schedule.

The first phase of the election will see a total of 20 states, including Uttar Pradesh, participating in the festival of democracy.

Among all the states in India, UP sends maximum 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha. Considering its huge population and vast geographical area, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to hold elections in each of the seven phases in UP.

In UP, the first phase of polls will be held on eight Parliamentary seats, including Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar.

Modi's right wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeking a second term, defending a landslide win over the opposition Congress party in 2014. The result is predicted to be close however.

Chhattisgarh is among sensitive states where polling is staggered over several weeks so security and administrative staff can be moved around.

The killing of a local leader of a Hindu nationalist group in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday reinforced fears of trouble during voting. Parts of Kashmir will also vote on Thursday.

Gunmen burst into a Jammu hospital and shot dead the regional leader of the right wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which is closely linked to Modi's party.

Tensions also simmered in the eastern state of Odisha where two landmines were recovered by patrols, and in nearby Bihar where two roadside bombs were detonated.

Modi has used India's action against Pakistan to bolster his strongman image and divert attention from criticism over a lack of jobs across the country and a farmers' debt crisis.

At a rally on Tuesday, Modi urged first-time voters to dedicate their ballot to the military who staged the air strike inside Pakistan.

Congress said the speech breached an Election Commission order that political parties should not use the armed forces for propaganda.

A biopic of the prime minister has also caused controversy, with the opposition Congress party waging a legal battle to prevent the showing of what it has called unfair propaganda.